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THE 


LANGUAGE 


OF 

REASON. 

BV THE 

y 

MARQITIS CARRAC<UOLI^S^<r^^Q^^ 

TO WHICH IS AFFIXED^ 


\ 

EXTRACT FROM THE THOUGHTS OF 



TRAWSLATED FROM THE FRENCH 

BY THE REV. J» B» 

■ ,1 . ■ 


DUBLIN: 

J^rtnteu CHintatn 

GT. STRAND-STREET. 
FOJ? THE TRANSLATOR. 


1802 





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^ A 


T O 

HIS GRACE 

THE 

DUKE OF LEINSTER. 

A WORK dilated by Reafon, 
and whofe main objefl; is to inftil into 
the tender minds of youth the early fen-^ 
timents of virtue, to open their dawning 
I Intelled: to the light of Truth, to prefent 
to them, in a clear and interefting view, 

I all their religious, moral and focial du¬ 
ties ; a Work, in fine, that tends to ren¬ 
der Virtue amiable and its pradtice eafy, 
by exhibiting in a moft pleafing light the 
beauty and grandeur of Religion^ natu¬ 
rally claims for its Patron and Protestor, 
a Nobleman, ftill more confpicuous 
for his virtues, than his noble birth or 
titles of diftinitionj whofe great mind is 

fuperior 






DEDICATION'. 


fuperior to the gaudy difplay of worldly 
pomp and pageantry, whofe gentle and 
affable manners befpeak the innate no¬ 
bility of his foul, and who pofTeffes in an 
eminent degree, the rare qualities of 
illuftrious Anceflxy, a foundUnderftand- 
ing and the beft of Hearts, in a word, the 
Friend of bis Country and of Mankinds 

That your Grace may live long to 
enjoy the comforts of domeftic happi- 
nefs, amidft an amiable and affectionate 
family and a grateful tenantry, who flou- 
rifh under your Grace’s patriarchal pro- 
teftion 5>may you long continue to fhed 
the benign influence of your virtues on 
your native land, and to exhibit to our 
Nobility an Example of true Dignity- 
blended with mildnefs and humanity, is 
the fmcere and fervent wifh of 

i. 

Your Grace’s moft devoted 

and humble Servant, I 



ADVERTISEMENT. 


THANKS to that all-ruling Providence, whofe ways 
areinfcrutable but ever juft, who, in his adorable wifdoiu, 
thought fit to expofe me to the fcourge of perfecution 
and imprifonment, in order to teach me thofe bitter but 
falutary leflbns, which are only to be learned in the 
fchool of Adverfity ; and who has been gracioufly 
pleafed to refcue me from fo many hidden Snares : to 
Him be for ever. Glory, Praife and Bcnedidion. And 
to thofe true and generous Friends, who liepped for¬ 
ward unfolicited, to aflift me in the time of need and 
to extricate me from my difficulties, I beg leave to 
return, with heart-felt gratitude, my moft fincere ac¬ 
knowledgments. 

Far be it from me to cenfure or condemn, much lefs 
to refent the conduct of thofe, who have been inftru- 
mental in procuring me the ineftimable advantages of 
Meditation and Solitude. 

O Holy Solitude ! what unfpeakable Bleffings doft 
thou confer on Man ! did he but know how to profit 
of thy favours : It is thou alone who canft recall us to 
ourfelves, and to our God, and canft fit us to converfe 
with him. Thou fixeft the inconftancy of the wandering 
mind, diftrafted by the noife and buftle of a giddy 
World, and teacheft us to defpife all its falfe Allure¬ 
ments and fleeting Vanities. Thou alone canft ftill the 
tumult x)f the jarring paflions ; give energy and eleva¬ 
tion to the Soul, to fpurn all mean and groveling 
thoughts j to foar into the region of Spirits, and dwell in 
filent contemplation on the infinite and adorable Per- 
fe<3ions of that Beauty ever ^Indent and ever Nenv : 
And as the Stag panteth after the ftreams of running 
water, fo, affifted by Thee, we afpireto thatinexhauftible 
Source of Happinefs, which alone can fatisfy the 
A 3 infatiable 







ADVERTISEMENT. 


infatlable thirft of a Heart created for the enjoyment 
of God himfelf, or as St. Auguftine thus beautifully 
exprelTes it,—“ My Heart, O Lord ; hath been reft- 
lefs, ^till it hath refted in thee.*' 

T think it is but juftice to acknowledge, that I am 
Indebted for my acquaintance with this excellent Work 
of the Marquis Carraccloll to a valuable Friend and 
Companion in myvconfinement, a Perfon highly eilima- 
ble for his folid piety, improved abilities and modeft 
worth ; and to his late amiable and accomplllhed Con- 
fort, whom the Lord and Sovereign Dlfpofer of life and 
death was pleafed to call to himfelf, after having tried ^ 
her like gold in the crufible of adverfity. With grate- : 
ful remembrance of her cordial and affeftionate atten¬ 
tion to me, during five months imprifonraent, I here 
offer to her revered memory the juft tribute of my moft 
fincere regret; never can I forget how often her friendly 
vlfits and cheering prefence difpelled the gloom of my ' 
PrifoUi and what comfort and fatlsfaftion I have re¬ 
ceived from her rational and edifying converfatlon. 
At their Inftance, therefore, I ventured to undertake the 
tranflation of the prefent Work, conceiving with them, 
that it would meet with a favourable reception, at lead, ■ 
from the well difpofed part of the community,and might 
ferve as an antidote againft the infedlion of thofe dan¬ 
gerous and pernicious writings, which are equally fub- 
veriive of Religion and Morality : I confidently hope, 
as this has been my firft attempt of the kind, that an 
indulgent Public, in confideratlon of my earneft wifli ■ 
to ferve them, will make allowance for fome inaccura-- 
cles of ftile or other Imperfedllons they may difeover in 
it. With refpedl to the Tranflation, all I fliall fay is 
that, in fcrupulouflyadhering to the fenfe of the Author, 

I have endeavoured, at the fame time, by a due diferi- 
minatlon of the Idioms of both Languages, to give it 
the appearance of an Englifh Original. 






PREFACE. 




THE rational and unhiajfedReader willy 
I doubt tioty approve and relijh the morality 
contained in this EJfayy whilji fuch as are 
actuated merely by pajfion and prejudicey 
may affe6l to defpife ity but their con- 
tempt Jhould rather excite pity than refenU 
ment. 

Thofe who are only to be pleafed with 
brilliancy of JlilCy with paradoxes and new¬ 
fangled fyjiemsy in oppojition to the received 
opinions of the moft virtuous and enlighten¬ 
ed men of all agesy will not be inclined to 
bejiow much of their time in peruftng thefe 
JJjeets. Reafon is fimple in hdr mode of ex- 
prejfiony becaufe her language is not that of 
the Imagination. 


The 


PREFACE. 


^he fubje6l of this Book may^ perhapSy 
appear too copious to be confined within 
fo narrow a compafs^ but Jhould it be 
found to comprife all the duties of Man 
with relation to God^ to his Neighbour 
and to Himfelf it mufi be acknowledgedy 
that it announces no more than it con-- 
tains. 

The affeBation of thofe pretenders tofine 
wity in boafiing continually of the firength 
of Reafon^ is what fuggefted the idea of 
this Work. Without the aid of Metaphyfics 
or profound dijfertations, I trufi 1 Jhall be 
able to prove^ that no one can be truly ra-^ 
tionaly who is not a Chrifiian, Such a 
manner of writing will no doubt excite the 
contemptuous fneer and ridicule of Free-' 
thinkersy but what does Rallery avail in 
cppojtiion to Truths 


The 


preface; 


The want of ferious reJle6lion^ and the 
fedu6lion of a falfe and fophijlical mode of 
reafoning obfcures the^ underjianding and 
prevents it from difcovering and following 
the true light of Reafon : fame would wijh 
to fubje6i- Reafon to the change of fajhions ; 
but though, her voice is no longer heard^Jlte 
always /peaks the fa?ne language ; ever 
eonjiant and uniform^ her foie objekl and 
employment is to enlighten and injlruki the 
MincU 

In thus eictoiling Reafon^ the Author does 
not snean to raife her above herfelf; he 
knowsJhe has her limits ; but he is far from 
attributing to her our errors. Her lan^ 
guage is the language of truths and we go 
afiray merely becaufe we do not attend to it* 

Reafon 1 thou precious and ineftlmable 
Gift of Heaven / the Ornament^ the EJfence 
and dijiinguijhing Charaderijiic of humafi 

nature ; 


PREFACE, 


nature ; refume now thy rights ; tell the 
Unbeliever^ he outrages and jn/ults thee 
when he pretends to avenge thy caufe^ and 
that thy nohleji prerogative is to yield to the 
fuperior light of Faith, Never was thy 
authority more frequently cited, never were 
there more appeals to thy tribunal, yet noU 
withjlanding this exterior homage, never 
haji thou been lefs revered, nor thy Dilates 
lefs refpeded^ 

T'e who deign to read this Book, will you 
confider it as a mere pajiime, or rather will 
you not endeavour to profit by it, and be¬ 
come J>encefQrth more attentive to the voice 
of Reafon : Jhe has been fpeaking to you 
fince the age of[even, and perhaps in vain ; 
of that you are the bejl judge ; but if fo, 
how many Tears have you mifpent / how 
pungent ought to be your Regret ! 


CONTENTS, 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER I. 

On Reafon^ , - - J 

CHAPTER II, ' 

On our Obligations towards God, *• 15 

CHAPTER III. 

On bur Obligations towards Ourfehes^ '37 

CHAPTER IV. 

On our Obligations towards our Neighbour, 51 

CHAPTER V. 

On Providence, - - - - 64 

CHAPTER VI. 

Oji Good and Evil, - - - 85 

CHATTER VII. 

On the Inequality of Conditions, - lor 

CHAPTER VIII. 

On the Neceffity of Laws, - - 108 

CHAPTER IX. 

On the Ufe of the Sciences, - “ 115 

chapter X. 

On the Love of One's Country^ 124 

On 






CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER XI. / 

On the Knowledge of the Worlds - 133 

CHAPTER XII. 

On the Contempt of Injuries^ - *143 

CHAPTER XIll. 

Oji the Love of Peace^ - 2 - 152 

CHAPTER XIV.. 

On the Means of being Happy^ - 164 

CHAPTER XV. 

On the Dangers of Incredulity^ ^ 177 

chapter XVI. 

/ 

On the advantages of Chrijiianity^ - 187 

CHAPTER XVII. 

On the Dflre of Deaths - - 211 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

On the Ahufe of Philofophy^ - - 224 

CHAPTER XIX. 

On the Li^^dts of Reafon^ - 241 


EXTRACT FROM MONS. PASCAL. 


Againji the indifference of Atheijls and 
Free-thinkers 253 




THE 


Language of Reafon. 


CHAPTER I. 

OJV JftEASON. 

Were i to follow the plan of fome 
modern writers, I fhould begin by de¬ 
fining Reafon, and inventing fome new 
)6xpreflion to charaderife it ; but this 
mode of definitions, which are gene- 
rally'but the mere offspring of the im¬ 
agination or of prejudice, varies accord¬ 
ing to the difference of opinion, and 
fcrves only to gratify curiofity, ftill 
leaving the fame void in the mind. It 
I is but too common with the authors of 
. the day, to confine themfelves to the fur- 
j face of things, without producing any 
thing real or fubflantial in their works: 

I man requires fome folid truth, to bring 
j B him 







2 


him to a due fenfe of hirnfelf, to recall 
him from a life of diffipation, to awake 
him from his lethargy, and to point out 
to him his origin and his deftiny. 

However, not to evade the dilEcuky, 
we fliall briefly confider reafon as a juji 
way 6 f thinkings and cf combining our 
thoughts^ and.that which eflTentially dif- 
tinguifhes man ,£rorn the brute creation 
which is guided by a certain inipulfe, 
called injlrnfi. The foul, by a conflant 
and regular operation, colleds together 
its feveral ideas, and of thefe ideas com- ' 
bined, forms its judgment and deter¬ 
mines in confequence. What would the 
world be if deprived of the faculty of 
reafoning? the earth, .according to the 
remark of the celebrated author of nature 
difplayed, would be entirely blind and 
would have no need of the light of the 
fun : but being endowed with u-eafoa, i 
which is, as it were, the centre of God’s 
w^orks, and harmonifes all, we difcovef /; 
throughout an intelligent being, an unity , 
and juft relation of things to each o.ther j | 

and I 



3 


and man combining all thofe different 
fpecies of beings, forms a whole of fo 
many feparate parts the animals, 
which have only their inftindl to dire^f 
them, (continues the fame author), know 
not who cloaths or feeds them ; neither 
do the ftars know whence they derive 
their fplendor, reafon alone both feels 
and comprehends it. Placed between 
God and irrational creatures, the obliga¬ 
tion of thankfgiving, of love and grati¬ 
tude on the part of all created beings, 
devolves upon her alone. Without 
Reafon, all nature would be mute, but 
through her, all things that exifl pro¬ 
claim the glory of their author.’* Were 
Reafon to be filent or banifhed from the 
world, nothing would be heard but the 
bellowing of the paflions ; and the cries 
of men, confounded with the howling 
of beads, would exprefs nothing but 
diforder and flupidity. It is the voice 
of Reafon that has dictated laws, infpired 
knowledge and a tafte for letters, and 
firft perfuaded mankind to live in focicty. 
’Tis Reafon that has, announced the 
B 2 wonders 


4 


wonders of an all powerful Being, has 
convinced us of the truth of Revelation, 
incelTantly recalls us to ourfelves and to 
God, exhorts us to the love of virtue, 
and invites us to tafte the fweets of 
Chriftian Philofophy. Whatever is 
contrary to Reafon tends only to difturb 
and diforganife the univerfe. 

Reafon is feldom found to be the 
companion of too quick and lively an 
imagination. The tranfient blaze of 
artificial fireworks may excite our won¬ 
der and admiration for a moment, whilfl 
the ordinary fire that burns in our 
grates, may be applied to a thoufand 
different ufes, either to adminifter to the 
wants or comforts of life. Reafon, 
furely, is not the produdfion of climate 
or of education, as has been boldly ad- i 
vanced by certain extravagant writers 1 
in the paroxifm of their folly ; yet, we 
mufl acknowledge that, the temperature i 
of the air, as alfo the cultivation of the ^ 
mind, greatly contribute to enlarge or , 
confine the progrefs of the judgment. 

Man’s 



5 


Man’s Rcafon may be compared to his 
eyes, which though of themfelves per- 
fedly organized, and capable of per* 
forming their fundions, yet can only 
fee in proportion to the light tranfmitted 
to them. Thus the favage pofTeifes the 
faculty of thinking as well as we do, 
and ifhe does not make the fame ufe of 
it, ’tis becaufe ignorance and the want of 
cultivation are, as it were, clouds that- 
obflrud his intelledual view. 

In vain, however, would We attempt 
to fupprefs this interior voice,, which is 
the organ of God himfelf, ftill would it 
break forth amidft the tumult of pafllons 
and prejudice, and cry out that man 
was created to refled, to merit, and to 
afpire to the firft principle of being, 
Reafon would be no better than mere 
inftind, if at the clofe of life, it did not 
open to our view tha/ immcnfe career 
which is fuited to the capacity of the 
foul, and to all its intelledual powers. 
This is the grand perfpedive we fhould 
keep continually before us, and which 

fhould 


6 


(hould mfpire us with a defire of being 
freed from thefe wretched trammels that 
conhne us to this earthly prifon. Man, 
though pofTcffed of all the flrength and 
beauty of the mofl fublime and compre- 
henfive genius, is but a lifping infant 
fhould he loofe fight of that profpefl of 
eternity which God himfelf has pointed 
out to us. 

The names of Plato, Socrates, and 
Ariftotle, are juflly revered by poflerity 
for their endeavours to difpel thofe 
clouds of ignorance and fuperftition, in 
which the pagan world was enveloped, 
and for having difcovered by the force 
of natural Reafon, a glimpfe of that eter¬ 
nal fource of light, of which the fun in 
its meridian glory is not even a fhadow. 
But who could have imagined that the 
fame darknefs which feemed to have 
difappeared for ever, was to return with 
flill blacker fhades to overfpread our 
horizon ? Reafon, though now illumin¬ 
ed by the light of revelation, can with 
difficulty maintain her rights, and that 

only 


7 


only among a few fages, whom the liber¬ 
tine and free-thinker would fain repre- 
fent as enthiifiafts or fools. Man labours 
to annihilate his immortal foul, to bring 
himfelf on a level with the brute, and 
dares even to exprefs his aflonifliment 
that any doubt or remorfe Oiould arife 
in the mind at the confideration of fo 
horrible a metamorphofe : nay even any 
attempt to recall men to God, the author 
of our life and being, is lligmatifed as 
fanatacifm ! but how vain and impotent 
are thefe efforts of impiety I the image of 
God in the foul, can never be entirely 
defaced, the voice of truth will ftill be 
heard amicHl the confiifed clamour of 
the paflions. 

If we liften to Reafon, flie will inform 
us that we received our being in a mi¬ 
raculous manner, without having been 
able cither to forefee or determine the 
inftant of our exiftence ; that tracing 
back from generation to generation, we 
mufl: afeend to a firfl man who could 
not have made himfelf, and therefore 

neceffarily 



8 


neceffarily fuppofes an eternal, immenfe, 
and omnipotent artift, whofe will creates, 
extends and multiplies all as he pleafes ; 
Reafon will teach us that thought, which 
is purely fpiritual and of a very different 
fubftance from the lymph or the blood 
that circulates through our veins, can 
waft itfelf in an inftant beyond this 
univerfe, without any other vehicle than 
that of the memory and the imagination; 
we learn from Reafon that, the heart of 
man, prompted by its infatiable defires 
is involuntarily impelled, even without 
knowing it, to feek God its only fove- 
reign good, the centre of all that moves 
or breathes j Reafon will tell us that, 
being thrown into this world for a few 
years, or perhaps only for a few days, 
the chief bufmefs of our life fhould be 
to merit that immenfe weight of glory 
which is promifed to the pradice of vir¬ 
tue ; it will alfo tell us that, human na¬ 
ture is dignified and exalted only by the 
exercife of meeknefs and patience, and 
by ads of generofity and charity ; that 
the fage who is content to refide within 

himfelf, 



9 


himfelf, is infinitely more happy and 
more truly great than the ambitious man 
who feeks only his aggrandifement, and 
wearies himfelf in the purfuit of vanity 
and falfehood. We difcover by Reafon 
that as truth is an objedl, which is uni- 
verfally fought after and eftecmed, it 
muft neceffarily esift, and is no where 
to be found, with certainty, but in the 
bofom of chriftianity, in that religion 
which alone is truely fublime, holy and 
confident ; in fine, Reafon will convince 
us that we aft as men only when we 
honour God, and that the true way to 
honour him, is to pay him that hom¬ 
age and that particular worfhip which 
he himfelf has prefcribed. 

Such is the Language of Reafon, 
would we but attend to it, inftead of 
liftening to the fuggeflions of flefh and 
blood : for alas! the body, grofs and 
material as it is, has neverthelefs its 
own manner of exprefling itfelf; k is 
by its feducing voice that, fo many are 
perfuaded to give a loofe rein to their^ 
B 5 pafTioixs 


lo 


pafTions and indulge themfelves in dan¬ 
gerous and criminal enjoyments; it is 
this body which, raifing itfelf on the • 
ruins of the foul, endeavours to intoxi¬ 
cate it with the pleafures of the fenfes, 
and divert its attention from thofe of 
Reafon; it whifpers in the ears of 
worldlings that it alone is their only 
end and happinefs, and that after its dif- 
folution, there will be an end to their ex- 
iftenee; it holds out to their view all the 
falfe allurements of riches and honors, 
all the fplendid pomp and pageantry of 
worldly grandeur, infpiring at the fame 
time the moft. frightful ideas of indi¬ 
gence and even of mediocrity. Thus 
the voice of Reafon, continually oppofed 
by the murmurings and revolt of the 
body, is heard only by thofe who are cou¬ 
rageous enough to brave the tyranny of 
fafliion and to refifl: the fedudion of the 
pafiions : ’tis for this reafon the gofpel 
recommends the mortification of the 
body, and tells us that we are not to fear 
thofe that can deftroy it; ’tis for the 
fame reafon the apoftle informs us that 

he 


he chaflifed his body and reduced it to 
fubjedion. 

The falfe and pernicious fyftem of 
materialifm would never have gained fo 
much credit in the world, were it not fo 
ably fupported by this portion of our- 
felves which is continually tormenting 
us with its wants. Men accuftomed to 
feel rather than to perceive, may eafily 
be led to believe themfelves entirely ter- 
reftial, unlefs they endeavour by an 
effort worthy an immortal foul, to fhake 
off the dufl that furrounds them, and 
foar into the fublime region of thought. 
There is in the interior of our Reafon, a 
fanduary where God refides, and com¬ 
municates himfelf to us in a wonderful 
manner: thofe infpirations which we 
negledl, thofe queams of confcience 
which we endeavour to fmother, that 
defire of happinefs which is infatiable, 
are the voice of God fpeaking within 
us j they convey to us his divine decrees- 
and that immutable order of his law, 
whicb commands^ us to know and to 

fpiritualife 


fpiritualife ourfelves. This is neither * 
the effort of enthufiafm, nor the effect 
ofquietifmabut the work of an immortal i 
foul confcious of its own dignity, and | 
difengaging itfelf from all earthly ties in 
order to afcend to its primitive fource i 
thus the filk-worm diverting itfelf of its^ 
infenfible and rtiapelefs mafs takes wings 
and flies ; thus the water of the fea after 
having been beaten by the tempcrt, be¬ 
comes more pure and limped. 

Did we but rightly conceive all the 
value of the operations of Reafon, were 
we perfuaded that as often as flie fpeaks 
to us, rtie is the interpreter of the mort 
high, we would be more attentive to 
lirten to her and obey her, we would 
confider ourfelves as the reprefentatives 
of the Deity on earth. Is it not by this 
glorious privilege of Reafon that man is 
qualified to govern this univerfe, is ca¬ 
pable of knowing his Creator, and of 
knowing himfelf, of difcerning good 
from evil, of perceiving, calculating, 
combining, and feeling that ardent, that 

infatiable 


13 


infatiable defire, which is the pledge of 
his immortality. Man, then, never can 
abufe his Reafon but he degrades him- 
feif; hence it is that he who a 61 :s moft 
foolifhly would feel refentment at being 
treated as an ideot or one deflitute of 
Reafon.. 

Neverthelefs the errors of the mind, 
as well as of the heart, fo common 
among mankind, proceed merely from 
the abufe of Reafon. Man almofl: from 
his birth is involved in a cloud of pre¬ 
judices through which he difcovers only 
a falfe glimmering which he miftakes 
for the true light of Reafon. The 
Egyptians notwithflanding their many 
and fublime acquirements of knowledge, 
framed to themfelves as many Gods as 
they had plants or roots in their gardens. 
He who has beftowed on us this preci¬ 
ous gift, will not fuffer us with impunity 
to abufe or defpife it: he requires that 
we fhould be ever docile and attentive 
to the admonitions of Reafon, the more 
fo, as all the advice we could receive 

from 


from others, would avail nothing, un- 
lefs we liften to what fhe fuggefts to 
each of us in particular. Eor being 
created for us, and continually refiding 
in us, fhe always fpeaks to us in a man¬ 
ner that is befl fuited to our charader, 
our talents, our capacity and our duties. 
Th^re is nothing in the univerfe has fo 
dired and intimate relations with our 
propenfities and our wants as our own 
Reafon. But in order to be better con¬ 
vinced of this truth, let us, in taking a 
review of our different obligations, en¬ 
deavour to fee what Reafon recom¬ 
mends to each of us for the due difcharge 
of them. Although Reafon is one and 
the fame in all countries and in all times, 
yet, in order the more effedually to 
gain her ends, fhe ufes different ways 
of exprefling herfelf according to the 
different perfons, without conftraining 
in any manner our liberty ; to fome fhe 
fpeaks more faintly, to others more 
flrongly, making herfelf all to all; but 
it is flill the fame language, that is, the 
language of truth. 


CHAP. 


J5 


CHAP II, 


ON OUR OBLIGATIONS TOWARDS GOD. 


yiT the mention of the name of God, 
all the powers of the foul are awaken¬ 
ed y ftruck with a reverential awe and 
aftonilhment that no tongue can exprefs, 
we make an effort to conceive that im- 
menfe and unfathomable intelligence, to 
reprefent to ourfelvcs that fublVance 
which has neither body nor colour, to 
approach that power and majefty which 
is utterly inaccelfible. What infinite 
perfedions ! what wonders 1 what great- 
nefs ! the vaft ocean is but as a drop of 
water in comparifon to him, the whole 
earth but as a grain of fand, the fun but 
a feeble fpark, and all the generations 
of men are in his fight as if they never 
had been. He wills, and all things 
fpring forth from nothing \ he fpeaks, 

and 


i6 

and all return to their original duft: he 
dwells in the depths of the abyfs^as well as 
in the heights of Heaven; and though he 
is nothing of what prefents itfelf to our 
view, he is every where prefent^ animat¬ 
ing all. The rocks, the winds, the fea^ 
and all the elements hear him and obey 
his commands : firft principle and be¬ 
ginning of all things, he himfelf had no 
beginning; he fhakes the earth to its 
foundations, whilft he remains immov¬ 
able ; he changes the face of the uni- 
verfe, andftill continues immutable: it 
was he who in our mother’s womb, ar¬ 
ranged our mufcles and organifed our 
frame in fuch myfterious fecrecy, and it 
is he who will re-animate us hereafter in 
the darknefs of the tomb. It is he dif- 
penfes (icknefs and health,. afflidls and 
cures as he pleafes i by the fnapping of 
a fingle fibre, he levels the ftrongefl: 
man, and overthrows his vafl proje6ls. 
The mod diminutive infed bears the 
impreflion of his greatnefs, as well as 
the elephant, every pulfation of their 
hearts renders homage to his power and 

goodnefs.- 



goodnefs. But what are all our ex- 
preffions but vague terms, unlefs this 
great Being himfelf deign to enlighten 
our darknefs and to ftoop to our weak- 
iiefs, alas ! were it not for his commife- 
rating pity we would not blufh at prof- 
tituting our incenfe to the flowers that 
fade, to the Stars that are eclipfed, to 
animals that neither conceive nor com¬ 
prehend ; in fine we would flray from 
ourfelves to feek at a difiance that God 
who refides within us and who is our 
principle and our life. Such is the ftu- 
pidity of the Atheifi and the extrava¬ 
gant folly of the Libertine; hurried 
away by the impetuofity of a perverted 
mind and a corrupted heart, they difown 
that infinite power, that animates them 5 
they know not that it is he who unties 
their tongues, and gives motion to their 
fingers, even when they write or fpeak 
againft him. But leaving thefe fenfelefs. 
men who, in the corruption of their 
hearts, have faid—there is no God,^ 
let us confult our own Reafon : already 
it begins to inform, me that, it did not 

always 


always exift, that its thoughts which 
fpring from its perceptions, have feme 
other principle different from itfelf, that 
all its faculties are borrowed, that in 
fine, a Being who is wholly difliiu^ 
from her, ftiil operates in her, after an 
ineffable manner, this firfl dawn of light 
is fufficient to difeover to her her own 
weaknefs, and to conduft her infenfibly 
to thofe great truths, which Religion 
holds out to our view. 

We immediately feel the neceflity of 
a revelation, and this is to be found 
only in the Chriftlan Religion, which 
traces its or igin to the terreftrialParadife : 
that memorable place, tho’ the theatre 
of our woe, gave birth to the worfliip 
which we profefs *, it was there our firfl 
parents ftripped, by their own fault, of 
all their glorious prerogatives, and of 
all their happinefs, faw no remedy for 
their misfortune, but through the medi¬ 
ation of that Meffias, who came to in- 
ftrud and heal us ; the authenticity of 
thofe Books that have tranfmitted to us 

this 


19 

this truth, is fo inconteftible in the eyes 
of reafon, that we muft abfolutely re¬ 
nounce or extinguifli its light, if after 
a difpaflionate and due examination of 
the irrefragable proofs upon which they 
are founded, we do not acknowledge 
the auguft authority of the Prophets and 
the Evangelifts. 

Man convinced, by his reafon, of 
the evidence of thefe proofs, acknow¬ 
ledges himfelf bound to the Deity by 
the ties of juftice and gratitude ; he dif- 
covers in himfelf and in all around him, 
the moft powerful motives to attach him 
to God, and to induce him to honour 
him by that worfhip, which he himfelf 
has prefcribed. In vain, do the paflions 
and fenfes attempt to revolt, and fug¬ 
ged doubts 5 the foul thinks, combines 
and refleds, and remains the more 
firmly perfuaded that, it is by faith 
alone, a Being who is wholly incompre- 
henfible can and ought to be adored ; 
thus we are guided by the purefl light of 
reafon to admire and adore the infcruta- 

able 



bte Majefty of God in humble filence 
and the more fo a& all the arguments; 
and difputes of thofe who rejedt revela- ;i 
tion, end only in a chaos of doubts and] 
uncertainty. What have we learned from’ 
all thofe philbfophers, who would liften 
to nothing but the fuggeflions of their, 
pride? Some would fain alTociate usA^ ith,^, 
andreduce us to the level of themofl un¬ 
clean and ferocious Brutes ; others have- 
confidered us as portions of that blind' 
and fantaflical Divinity, which they'®^ 
fuppofed tobedifFufed through all matter. 
Infatuated men! who did not refledt 
that it is perfedlly confident with reafon, 
to believe things that we cannot compre- , 
hend ; whereas the nature of God in- :; 
finitely furpafles all our conceptions 5 toy 
pretend therefore to comprehend him ■ 
would be an argument of arrogance and ' 
folly; it is not, then, reafon, but the 
abufe of reafon, that gives birth to fo-4 
phifms and abfurdities. Reafon, ever^ 
uniform and confident, teaches us that 1 
it is more glorious to dop where God^ 
has fixed the limit for us, than to dray 




21 


into that frightful void, where pride 
and prefumption are bewildered and 
loft; the obligation of our duties to 
God, is of fuch a nature, that unlefs 
we become deaf to the voice of confci- 
ence, we cannot difpenfe with it : but 
mankind for the moft part, are fo ab- 
forbed in their fenfes, or fo diflipated 
by their paftions, that they attend neither 
to infpirations, nor to the ftings of con- 
fcience: they live as if their life folely 
depended on their own will; they defire, 
as if their only bufinefs here below was 
to fatisfy all their inordinate defires, 
they feem to forget that God has an 
abfolute right over all their thoughts 
and affedions, that we owe to him the 
entire homage of our underftanding and 
our will, and that the glorious privilege 
of poflefTing an immortal Soul, fhould 
remind us every moment we breathe, 
that we exift only by him and for him ; 
and yet can man refled on himfelf and 
not acknowledge his total dependance 
and his nothingnefs ? God as the Sun, 
and man as the fhadow feem to move 

with 



€2 


with equal pace: but is it not the light 
that does all, and embodies even the 
fhadow ? Our Reafon has neither juft- 
nefs nor precifion, but in as much as it 
emanates from the creative fpirit, that 
preferves and animates us : it is in God 
alone we can difeover the centre and 
plenitude of all truth, the fcience of 
numbers; this fubjedi: has been ably 
handled by St. Auguftine. If we look 
alfo to colours and to the other differ¬ 
ent objefe of our fenfes, we perceive a l 
wonderful harmony which is neither I 
fiditious nor arbitrary, but admirably 
calculated to captivate and enchant us. 
Thus the foul is continually reminded of 
the influence of an infinite and almighty 
power, and is wrapt in the filent contem¬ 
plation of its various. and ftupendous 
operations. 

We may learn from Reafon, that, as 
this world was not made to conflitutc 
our happinefs nor our end, we ought to 
endeavour, by a pure life, to enfiire our 
eternal felicity. All cur obligations 

towards 



23 


towards God may be reduced to our 
love of him; Reafon proclaims aloud, 
that it would be the mod horrible of 
crimes to forget him who has done all 
in us, and has done all for us, and who, 
in the end, is to be our eternal reward ; 
and as he has endowed us with a foul 
capable of loving, we fliould entertain 
no affedion to any created being, but in 
reference to him. Was it neceflary, 
then, O my God, exclaims St. Auguf- 
tine, to oblige us, by an exprefs com¬ 
mandment, to love thee! When all na¬ 
ture cries out, that thou alone art worthy 
of our love. Sure-ly we cannot but be 
fenfiblc that a God who is ever ready to 
pardon our faults, a God who opens 
for us the bofom of the Earth, and has 
fpread out the Heavens for our ufe, a 
God who is fubjed to no change or vi- 
cilfitude, has a juft claim to our affedi- 
on, and that it would be the moft crying 
injuftice to refufe him the tribute of our 
love, whilft we prefume to ufurp a domi- 
-nion over the heartsofhis creatures. 


This 


24 


This divine love mufl: not remain 
barren and inadive; the Almighty 
ftyles himfelf a jealous God, he requires 
that our mind diould be employed in 
contemplating his wonders, that our 
heart fhould be enflamed with the love 
of his law, that our hands fhould be 
raifed up to Heaven, that our feet fhould 
be fwift in the ways of juftice ; that, in 
fine, onr whole being fhould be devoted 
to his fervice and to the accompliflimcnt 
of his defigns. St. Thomas,. when yet 
a child, begged of every one he met 
to teach him what God was, that he 
might love him ftiirmore, f© alfo he de¬ 
clares that we fin grievoufly, if we fail to 
adore God as foon as we attain the ufe 
of Reafon. 

It is certain that we owe to that fu- 
preme Being who fupports and preferves 
us a conftant return of gratitude and 
love, and that we fhould be guilty of 
flrange prevarication, were we to begin 
the day without a grateful acknowledg¬ 
ment of all his bleffings and an humble 

offering 


25 

oftering of our moll: fervent prayers and 
fupplications to our Creator and bene¬ 
factor. Is it not he who formed the day 
and the night for our ufe ? ^.Vho clofes 
and opens our eye-lids ? Who continu¬ 
ally watches over us when awake, or 
when buried in fleep ? We Ihould fre¬ 
quently call to our rccolleCtion thofe 
powerful helps by which he has refcucd 
us from fo many imminent dangers ; as 
often as the thunderbolt has been fuf- 
pended over our heads, or the abyfles 
clcfed beneath our feet, we fhould refleCl 
with heart-felt gratitude that it was his 
beneficent hand that protected us. We 
have feen fome fall on our right, and 
others on our left, whilfl we have re¬ 
mained unhurt in the midfi: of preci¬ 
pices and ruins. But what need is there 
to refort to thofe flriking examples, 
in order to remind us of our obligati¬ 
ons to God ? is it not in him and by him, 
according to the emphatic expreffion of 
the great apoftle that, we live, we move, 
and we exill ? Were he to ceafe but one 
infiant to preferve us, we fliould foon be 
C reduced 


s 


26 


reduced to our original duft and lie con^ 
founded with the earth on which we tread. 
Yet, alas! how many unhappy people 
pafs their whole lives in a total oblivion 
of God. Confirmed in their unaccount^' 
able ftiipidity, they have eyes and fee 
not, they have ears and hear not; they 
imagine themfelves at an infinite diftance 
from that Deity who is continually about 
them and fupplies them with life and 
adlion. Who could fufpeft that fuch 
folly and blindnefs could be found in the 
midft of chriftianity, in a religion truly 
divine, and which fo powerfully aflifls 
our Reafon to trace out all our duties, 
and infpires us at the fame time with 
force to pradife them ? She has not 
only taught us the means of honouring 
God, but has alCo determined the dated 
times of paying him our nioft folemn 
homage. Thus Ihe has appointed the 
Sundays and great Feflivals of the year 
to be particularly confecrated to the 
fervice of God ; though by many, who 
pretend to the name of chrifiians, they 
are fcarceiy diilihguifhed from the other 1 

days ; 



27 


days of the week, except by their em¬ 
ploying them in idle and prophane 
amufements. 

The fincere Chrihian whofe mind is 
imprefled with a due fenfe of his obli¬ 
gations to the Supreme Being, will never 
fail to fan£tify the Sunday and other 
h®ly-days by works of piety and charity 
and by his afTiduity and attention to 
divine fervice. To the fhame of Catholics 
be it mentioned that in the Proteftant 
City of Geneva, the Lord’s day is ob- 
ferved with a folemn and religious 
filence,' uninterrupted by playing or 
dancing or the found of inflruments, 
or by any worldly bufinefs; how dif¬ 
ferent is the condud of too many Catho¬ 
lics who imagine that hearing a Mafs in 
a hurry and palTing half an hour in a 
Chapel, where they go perhaps only to 
fee and to be feen, acquits them of all 
their obligations to God. 

Het;e perhaps fome modern wit, af^ 
fuming the pompous title of Philofpher, 
C 2 may 



28 


may ftart up and tell us, that we ought 
not to confound reafon with revelation, 
that they are entirely different and in¬ 
compatible with each other. But, though 
thefe trite objections have been already 
fufficiently refuted, it is an inconteftable 
truth that, even the myfteries of the 
Chriflian Religion, iiowever incomprcr- 
henfible in themfeives, have neverthelefs 
a luminous fide which the eye of reafon 
can difcover ; for inftance the myftery of 
the Trinity, which feems the moft re¬ 
pugnant to our underffanding, will not 
appear fo extraordinary, when repre- 
fented as it really is. Ignorance and 
impiety affecl to confound the term of 
perfon with that of God : and will not 
feem to underftand that, in the myftery 
of the Trinity, we are taught to believe 
that one God is no more than one God, 
and that three perfons are really three 
perfons, but they would fain explain 
it as if three perfons conftituted but one 
perfon ; which undoubtedly would be 
a thing impoffible. 


How 



29 


Hov/ deplorable is the infatuation of 
men, when they wilfully fliut their 
eyes againd reafon 1 how many will you 
find among the followers of Spinofa’s 
fyflein, who give a body to the Deity 
and reprefent him as a Soul incorporated 
wdth this whole univerfe } though you 
eould never prevail on them to admit 
the union of ?he divine word with our 
humanity in the mydery of the Incar¬ 
nation ! Materialids deny the pollibiiity 
of a Spiritual Soul adling upon matter, 
whild they acknowledge that God, who 
is a pure fpirit, communicates motion 
to the earth and to the fpheres: hence 
it is clearly proved that, when we dray 
from God and from his Religion, we 
are deaf to the voice of reafon ; and that 
all our errors proceed from diffipation 
and folly. We have allowed our paf- 
fions and our fenfes to gain fuch an 
afcendancy over us, that we are en¬ 
tirely fubjed to their control : their fe- 
duction is fo powerful and fo congenial 
to our corrupt nature, that we feel no 
inclination to oppofe it. After having 

been 


3^ 


been for a confidei able part of our life, 
ftunned with the confufed noife and 
tumult of a vain worlds which is fwayed 
only by fafhion and prejudice, we 
bring ourfelves at length to confider 
Reafon itfelf as folly. 

Tell that rich man that, in diftribut- 
ing thefe large fums from a motive of 
mere offentation and vanity, he does 
not comply with the duties of chriftian 
charity, that, at moil, they are but dead 
works ; he will not underftand you. 
Tell that great man, he degrades hu¬ 
manity, when he fpeaks with haughtinefs 
or looks down with difdain on even the 
lowed: of mankind ; he will defpife your 
reflexions. Tell that lady of fafhion., 
that this excefiive luxury, thefe airs of 
vanity, thefe fiXitious ornaments are 
contrary to the fpirit of the Gofpel; her 
reply will be, that Ihe mull fupport her 
tank. Tell that infatuated gambler that 
his money and his time are not to be 
difpofed of according to his caprice, that 
the law of God has determined the ufe 

he 


he ought to make of them ; he wiii 
laugh at you. Tell thofe ecclefiallics 
who afpire to preferment in the church, 
that the plurality of benefices may prove 
the caufe of their eternal ruin, that it is ' 
criminal to folicit livings which have the 
care of fouls annexed to them ; they 
will confider you as an idiot. Thus 
it happens that perfons in every rank of 
life, by ftifiing the voice of Reafon, 
and attending only to palhon and preju¬ 
dice, are hurried away by the torrent; 
and the fucceflion of generations is but 
a fucceflion of errors. 

Man fhould recoiled that his obliga¬ 
tions towards God are what diftinguifh 
hint from the brute creation ; for even 
the brute has its fenfes and its paffions 
and feems fufceptible, like us, of grati¬ 
tude and affection ; to man, as a Poet 
expreffes it, God has given a head and 
eyes eredt to view the heavens, whilfl 
the other animals are bent downwards 
to the earth. Ah ! if we would but 
confider how many endearing ties wc 

have 



32 


have to attach us to God ; how many 
prefTing motives to induce us to ferve 
him, and to love him ; our whole being, 
with all its motions, thoughts, fenfations, 
and fentiments, would have but one 
adlion and one will, to aft only for God 
and in God. All that is in us or out of 
us, is defective, as foon as we attempt to 
withdraw ourfelves from him, who vivi¬ 
fies and preferves us. How deplorable 
then !nufl: be the error of thofe, who 
never invoke nor mention the name of 
God, unlefs to profane it by their blaf- 
phemies! this refined and corrupt age in 
which we live, has carried extravagance 
or rather impiety to fuch a pitch as to 
invent different terras equally unintel¬ 
ligible and abfurd, fuch as nature and 
' chance, in order to avoid mentioninor the 

' O 

nameof God. Away with this philofophi- 
cal pride and afl’eftation ; and let all that 
is in us, according to the exprefTion of the 
prophet, blefs the Lord ; he heals our 
infirmities, he pardons our iniquities, 
he fnatches us from the jaws of death, 
he crowns us in his mercy, he prevents 


our 


33 


Gur defires, he renews our youth like 
that of the eagle, he has for us the 
fame tendernefs the mod affedionate 
parent has for his child, he knows our 
weaknefs, he fhowers down his bleflings 
from generation to generation,, on thofe 
that fear him ; he has prepared for us 
an abode in Heaven, and his kingdom 
fhall have no end. When he laid the 
foundations of the earth, he had us in 
view and when he renev/ed the world 
by the incarnation of his eternal word, 
lie placed us in the way of falvation. 

If thefe be not fufficient motives to 
excite in us the mod lively fentiments 
of love and gratitude, we are no 
better than vegetating beings, who have 
lod the ufe of Reafon. The day will 
come, and is not far didant, when this 
univerfe wall difappear as a fliadow, to¬ 
gether with all its vain amufements and 
occupations, and nothing, will then re¬ 
main for the foul but the contemplation 
of God: then vve (hall be fully convinced; 

C 5 but 




34 


but perhaps too late, of the obligation 
and neceffity of having fludied his law 
and pradifed it. The royal Prophet 
made this his delight, as appears from 
thofe admirable pfalins he has bequeath¬ 
ed us, and which we would undoubtedly 
prefer to all other works of poetry, if we 
had a fincere love of truth : they move, 
they perfuade, they ravilh the heart, 
they are the expreflion of gratitude and 
love itfelf. ^ 

Being of Beings! who haft formed me, 
and haft led me forth from my mother's 
womb, who haft opened mine eyes to the 
light, who haft reckoned the number of 
the hairs of my head, and the drops of 
blood that circulate through my frame ; 
who knoweft the inmoft recefles of my 
heart, who fcanneft all my thoughts, my 
defires, my projeds, and even my 
dreams. Thou who fupplieft ftrengthi 
to my memory, light to my underftand-i 
ing, and expanfion to my heart; who! 
cheareft my foul with hope, and heapeft' 


on 



35 


on me thy cholccft blefTings, and who 
now givefl motion to thefe fingers j it is 
thou, my Reafon acknowledges as her 
God and fupreme author and ruler of 
the unlverfe; it is thee fhe invokes as 
her only refource, her light, her fupport, 
her confolation, and her joy. My 
Reafon which appeared at firft as a fpark 
of light in the midfi; of darknefs, when 
thou waft pleafed to unite my foul with 
my body, is now become a ftar that pur- 
fues its vaft career, following thee as its 
fun, and borrowing from thee its bright- 
nefs. 

f 

To thee, then, O my God, I am in¬ 
debted for all that I am, and for all that 
I can do ; ever in the midft of me, thou 
art continually inftrudling my Reafon, 
how to ad, and how to fpeak. Yes, my 
God, it is thou, for thon alone art all 
powerful, who'intimateft to her thy will, 
and were not our paftions fo unruly, 
and our fenfes fo intradable, we might 
learn from Reafon the extent of our 

obligations 


3 ^ ‘ 

obligations towards thee, fhe would 
teach us that at the foie mention of thy 
adorable name, all the energy of the 
foul fliould break forth in praifes and 
thankfgiving, and fhould melt away in 
thy prefence as wax before the fire. 
The oftrichin the wildernefs invokes thee 
with her cries ; the roarings of the lion 
found forth thy praife, and all the beads 
of the forefl render homage to thy ma- 
jefly ; even the little ant by its move¬ 
ments and its induftry announces all thy 
greatncfs, and man by his Rcafon ac¬ 
knowledges thy fupreme dominion, and 
confefles thee the God thrice holy and 
fovereign lord of all. Let us learn 
then to refpe£l this mod precious and 
inedimable gift of God, fince it is by its 
minidry we hold a fuperiority and em¬ 
pire over the red of the creation, and i 
are enabled to afcend even to the throne 
of God himfelf. Methinks I fee this 
glorious faculty, like the fun amidd the 
planets communicating light to our “i 
aftions and our defires. Without it we-^ 
could have no idea of God : and what is 

a being 



57 


a being incapable of knowing God 
Without it we would be ignorant of the 
exigence of religion, and the fubmiflion 
we owe to the infallible authority of the 
holy catholic and apoftolic church : in 
fine, without it we would neither think 
of living well nor of dying well. 


CHAPTER III. 

ON OUR OBLIGATIONS TOWARDS 
O URSEL r£S. 

IN order to know the extent of our 
duties towards ourfelves in particular, 
we niufl enter into our heart, where we 
feel that man is not a creature formed 
by chance, nor indifferent in the rank of 
beings, but the noblefi: work of a God, 
who is infinite in wifdom and whofe de- 
figns are as unlimited as his perfedions. 
In vain has a pragmatical philofophy 

attempted 




38 

attempted to prove that man is an enig¬ 
ma as inexplicable as all that furrounds 
him. We have a Reafon which teaches 
us to know ourfelves^ and which after 
having diftinguifhed our intelledlual 
from our corporeal fubftance, informs 
us what we owe to each. The foul as 
well as the body has its refpe^iive wants 
to be fupplied. The imagination fliould 
be fed with hopes, to enable us to fupport 
our ills ; the memory (hould be furnifh- 
ed with a variety oLfads and examples, 
in order to recall us continually Jo the 
recolledion of Providence; the will 
fhould form fuch defires as have eternity 
for their principle and their end ; the un- 
derftanding fhould be applied to the 
contemplation of ufeful truths : in like 
manner, the body and all its different 
functions fhould be confecrated to the 
fervice of him who has given it life and 
motion. We fhould be attentive to fup- 
ply its reafonable wants and to preferve 
its health, whereas ficknefs would render 
us incapable of difcharging our refpec- 
tive duties : it would be criminal to 

debilitate 


/ 




39 


f debilitate the body by either intemper¬ 
ance or indifcretion: be wife with fo- 
briety, fays the great apoftle. Thefe 
are not arbitrary obligations but found- 
i ed in the very effence of our conftituti- 
! on : our creator in forming us, left to 
' us the adminiftration of our perfons, 
and gave us knowledge to govern our- 
felves according to the jrules of juftice 
and truth. Reafon is eftablifhed as a 
queen to influence our whole being and 
to direct all its operations ^ feated as it 
were on her throne, (he didates her laws 
and communicates to us the decrees of 
the Almighty ; and it is by our Arid ob- 
fcrvance of them we live like truly chrif- 
tian Philofophers. 

Human nature, confldered abftrad- 
edly, far from meriting that contempt, 
with which certain Cynics have aifeded 
to treat it, is the highell rank of dignity 
in the univerfe. All has been created 
for man, ffays the fcripture) and 
. though our modern fpeculators have 
imagined that the moon and the planets 

are 



40 


are inhabited, as well as the earth, \ 
will iieverthelefs be certain that the fan- 
and moon were created for his ufe^ 
Reafon is not fatisfied with hypothefes' 
or fictions, fhe requires proofs. Our 
thought darts fwifter than the lightning', 
and penetrates to the extremities of the 
univerfe, traverfes in an inftant the im- 
menfity of fpace, and fubjefts to its ex¬ 
amination all thofe vafl: bodies that fur- 
round us j this may give us fome idea 
of what we are, and of what the foul of 
man is equal to. She is an unfathonv- 
able abyfs of greatnefs, when (lie gives 
a free fcopeto her defires and her ideas, 
the Earth and the Heavens feem to her 
but as an atom. V/hen difengaging 
herfelf from matter, fhe takes her flight 
and foars as it were into the bofom of 
the mofl high, fhe fuddenly feels herfeif 
enlarged and in fome meafure blended 
with the Divinity. Surely when we 
hold fo intimate a connexion with that 
great Being., we fiiould confider the 
augufl: miniftry we have to fulfil, and 
be careful not to degrade our nature by 


an 


mriiil 




41 


an attachment to any bafe or unworthy 
objeds. 

What a world of wonders does man 
contain within himfelf! What a fund of 
riches in the underflanding, the me¬ 
mory, and imagination ! placed between 
God and the irrational creation, we 
fhould afpire to the glory of thinking 
well, of defiring well, of living well, and 
of dying w’elL 

Such as adl without refledlion, fuch 
as feek only the periihable goods of this 
life, and fulfer themfelves to be hur¬ 
ried away with the torrent of the world, 
disfigure the work of God, and deface 
his image. Order requires that we 
fhould fupport the dignity of our im¬ 
mortal Being, that we fiiould raife our 
thoughts above this earth in the con¬ 
templation of God, who is our only 
hope, and who alone can render us 
completely happy. Were it not for the 
negledl of fulfilling our obligations to¬ 
wards ourfelves, we fhould not fee fo 

many 


42 


many proud, ambitious, and avaricioust 
men, fo many obfcene and blafphemousj; 
writers. When the mind is perverted 
and the heart corrupted, man finks to 
the lowed: date of degredation. 

Reafon inceflantly repeats to us thefe 
great truths, and invites us in the mod - 
prefling manner to lead a fpiritual life ; | 
at one time fhe .employs thofe pungent 
flings of remorfe, that goad the guilty ' 
confcience; at another time fhe repre- ^ 
fents to us our duties, as the happinefs , 
and perfection of our being. Reafon 
will alfo inform us, without the aid of 
books or maflers, that we fhould refpe^t . 
that intelledual portion of ourfelves as ; 
emanating from the divinity, that we ] 
fhould make a due difcriminationbctween ; 
two fubflances fo very different from ,| 
each other, that the foul fhould aflfert 
its fuperiority, and maintain its afeend- 
ancy over the body, and as the apoftle p 
recommends, reduce it under due fub- I 
jedion. There is noperfon, if he retire || 
a while from the tumult of the paffions 
and buftle of the world, and ferioufly 

enter 




43 


enter into himfelf, who will not experi¬ 
ence thefe fentiinents. The foul, from 
time to time, has certain fecret intima¬ 
tions that remind her of a future ftate ; 
fhe then perceives that death is only the 
dawning of a new life, and looks forward 
with anxious expeclation to a happy and 
glorious refurredion. This confiderati- 
on fhould engage us to treat our bodies 
with refped : for though our members 
are but organifed clay, yet their intimate 
relations and co-operation with our foul, 
fhould render them dear to us. It is 
not therefore allowed to profane, nor to 
deftroy them. Our whole being is a 
depofit that we mull one day ret^irn to 
him who intrufted it to us. This re- 
fieclion alfo naturally leads to a more 
minute detail, of our feveral obligations 
with refpefl to ourfelves : the i ft is, to 
retain that happy fimplicity which is 
born with us, and charaderifes the age 
of infancy : 2dly, not to defile the purity 
of the mind and heart, with the conta- 
geous examples of a perverfe and cor¬ 
rupt world ; 3dly, by a fcrupulous at¬ 
tention to the didates of Reafon, to 

maintain 


44 


maintain that perfe^i: harmony, which 
fhould always fubfifl: between the foul 
and the fenfes : 4thly, to preferve the 
body from every excefs contrary to 
prudence and fobriety. The great St. 
Auguftine informs us that he kept a 
continual watch over himfelf, left he 
fhould grant too much indulgence to 
his fenfes, which, as the wife man ob- 
ferves, are infatiabie.—The eye is not 
tired with feeing, nor the ear with hear¬ 
ing, nor the tongue with fpeaking; we 
would for ever wifh to feel and tafte, 
fo that our life feems to be merely 
animal: we find every thing irkfome 
and difgufting, when we are no longer 
affeded by fenfible objeds ; hence it is 
that we look upon a life of retirement 
and folitude as truly miferable. To be 
fecluded from the world, fhut out 
all its vain amufements, from all thofe 
brilliant follies that diflipation and luxu¬ 
ry have invented, would feem to us a 
privation the moft melancholy and de*- 
plorable ; yet thofe who have been led' 
to embrace this auflcre kind of life, and 

te 


to defpife all thefe important trifles, 
were induced thereto, by liflening to 
the voice of Reafon ; whillt others, by 
liftening only to their palTions and their 
fenfes, are fo flrongly attached to the 
world and its vanities. What, in fad, 
does Reafon teach us with regard to the 
ufe of our fenfes ? does fhe not inform 
us, that they fliould be kept as fentinals 
to watch over the prefervation of our 
Being ? that, in flying from one objed 
to another, which are incapable of fa- 
tisfying us, we tire ourfelves in vain, 
and can find no repofe but in the ftudy 
of truth. 

<Jod has appointed our Reafon as a 
'monitor to recall us to our duty ; if we 
are deaf to her inftrudions, we oppofe 
the defigns of Providence, and eftablifh 
in ourfelves a moR frightful anarchy, 
inftead of that wife government which 
the foul Ihould exercife over the body. 
A more hideous fpedacle, cannot be 
conceived, than that of a man who for¬ 
gets what he is, and what he owes to 

himfelf j 


46 ' 


hlmfelf; abandoned to every caprice, 
his mind becomes a void in which all 
reflexion is loft. 

We may reckon four defcriptions of 
people who have no idea of their obli¬ 
gations towards themfelves: the mate- 
rialifts, who acknowledge no other foul 
than the aftion of the mufcles and the 
nerves, and confider their life as the 
motion of a bowl call by chance, and 
which continues rolling ’till it arrives 
at its term : the libertines, who conceive 
no happinefs but in the gratification of 
their paflions, and are totally ignorant of 
the greatnefs of their deftiny : thofe vain 
and frivolous men, who feduced by the 
futility of fafhiohs, and what they ftyle 
the bon-ton^ think of nothing but plea- 
fing and ftiining in the brilliant circles 
of life ; the rich and great ones of the 
world, who look upon their chimerical 
titles, as virtues, their riches as talents, 
and their pleafures as bufmefs, are 
wholly occupied in fupporting their 
rank and dignity, in vain does Rea^"^^ 




47 


cry out to this defcription of people, 
they are deaf to her admonitions, and 
know not even that fuch a thing as 
Reafon exifts. 

Is it not aftonifhing that among fuch 
an innumerable multitude of perfons 
capable of reafoning, there are fo few 
who make a right ufe of their Reafon ? 
they are afraid of coming at the know¬ 
ledge of themfelves, and prefer leading 
a mere animal life, and riiking the im- 
menfe happinefs of eternity, rather than 
look back on themfelves; the dove and 
the folitary fparrow on the houfe-top 
feem to meditate and refled, is there 
but man alone, who wanders every 
Avhere but where he is himfelf; or if he 
feems at times to recoiled himfelf, it is 
merely to immerfe himfelf in calcula¬ 
tions of intereft, or to give way to re¬ 
veries and diftradion of thought. Infi¬ 
nite is the detail of our obligations 
towards ourfelves, every thing within 
us, and out of us, has its end and its 
,ufe^ ouf Reafon is an inexhauftible 

fource, 




48 


Iburce, from which we draw motives 
of confolation in our afflidlions, means 
of fubfiflence in our indigence and dif- 
trefs, and light to guide us in our un¬ 
certainty ; by her forecaft, her penetra¬ 
tion, and her adivity flie raifes us up, 
fiipports and direds us. We ought not, 
it is true, be felicitous or uneafy about 
the morrow, as the Gofpel teaches; 
but we fhould exert our induftry, to 
procure our neceflary fubfiflence, and 
not to tempt Providence ; our life is not 
left to whim or caprice : the natural 
law has regulated all, and the chriftian 
law has perfed:ed all. Our wants, our 
taftes, our goods, our ills, our plea- 
fures, our pains all enter into the plan 
of our deftiny; if we derange this eco¬ 
nomy, we become a confufed chaos, 
and counteradl the defigns of Provi¬ 
dence ; the univerfe fhould be our 
model; the flowers and the fruits come 
in their due feafon ; the nights and the 
days regularly fucceed each other. 

It, 


49 


It is only by obferving order, and lead¬ 
ing a life that is in perfect harmony and 
unifon, that we can avoid thofe defects 
which are fo common among mankind j 
this care and attention to order Reafon 
requires of us, and it is of fo much the 
greater importance, as it is the lefs at¬ 
tended toin general; fo many arethe inlets 
to vice, and fo few the remedies againfl 
it: from our very infancy, it enters 
through our ears and our eyes ; we in¬ 
hale it, as it were, with the air we 
breathe, fo widely has the contagion 
fpread ; our firft thoughts are often fins j 
however, fcarce had we reached the age 
of feven, when Reafon began already to 
fpeak to us in a very intelligible manner. 
Let u& recall to our remembrance that 
age which has palfed like a fliadow, we 
\vill recolle£l: that we did not at that 
time commit a fault without blufhing, 
and feeling an inward regret ; we even 
then were able to difcover the beauty of 
order, and the danger we expofed our- 
felves to in violating it ; and according 
as we grew up, we felt that he alone is 
D refpedable, 


50 


refpedlable, who knows how to poflefs 
himfelf, and that the only neceflary fci- 
ence is that which conduces to the im¬ 
provement and perfection of our nature. 

If the multiplicity of titles, which men 
have invented, had not obfcured and 
alnioft entirely defaced our much more 
noble quality of rational creature, man¬ 
kind would appear in this univerfe as fo 
many fovereigns, whofe dominion would 
extend over metals, plants, and animals ; 
and we fiiould no longer doubt of that 
refpeCl which an immortal foul owes to 
herfelf. To preferve the innocence 
and perfedion of our Being, or to re¬ 
cover it when loft ; to obferve and 
pradife the maxims and precepts of re- ^ 
ligion, to merit an eternity of happinefs, ; 
and avoid an eternity of mifery, are j 
not furely matters of indifference, j 
Would to God all thefe fantaftical cuf- ' 
toms which Iblly has introduced were J 
.entirely done away, and that the ftudy 
and care of our everlafting welfare werel 
fubftituted in their place. Reafon cries^ 
out to us that we w’ere created to be l| 

eternally II 



51 


eternally happy ; wherefore not to take 
the moft effedual means to enfure our 
future happinefs, mufl: argue the mod 
unaccountable infatuation and delufion. 
And what are thefe means, but our ex- 
adnefs and fidelity-in accamplifhing the 
law of God ? 


CHAP IV. 

ON OUR OBLIGATIONS TOWARDS OUR 
NEIGHBOUR, 

All mankind form one great fociety, 
wherein like the links of the fame chain, 
they are all connected together; their 
Reafon, though more or lefs developed, 
according to the different formation of 
their organs, or the different degrees 
of underdanding, informs them of the 
obligation they are under continually to 
ferve and affiff each other. They judge 
D 2 of 




5 ^ 

of the wants and propenfitjes of others 
by their own, and feel a natural inclina¬ 
tion to beneficence. It is much to be 
deplored, that the violence of men’s 
paflions has fo much weakened the feel¬ 
ings of humanity, and that vengeance 
and jealoufy fo often ufurp the place of 
mildnefs and cornmiferation. 

Alas! we frequently fee mankind ' 
tranfported with envy and rage, feeking 
to injure and deflroy each other, whilft 
the brute creation feeip to difcover a 
kindnefs and affedion for their fpecies. 
We might learn from them the mofl: 
ufeful leflbns, if we were reafonable 
enough to propofe them, in foine in- 
ftances, as models for our imitatiom 
The choleric and violent man fees his 
condemnation in the gentle dove, and 
the fluggard in the induftrious ant; it is 
thus the inflind even of the brute be¬ 
comes fuperior to the Reafon of man, 
jvhen he wantonly abufes it. 


Luxury 


55 

Luxury and refinements, and the vaft 
difproportion they have introduced 
among mankind, have greatly injured 
and depraved our nature. He who 
deeps on a bed of down, and whofe table 
is covered with the mofl: coftly and ex> 
quifite viands^ can hardly bring himfelf 
to acknowledge as his brother, the poor 
peafant who repofes on the cold ground, 
and eats his bread with the fwcat of his 
brow. If the rich and great ones of the 
world, fiiffer a poor perfon of low ex- 
tradion to approach them in private, 
they foon after revenge themfelves on 
them in public by an air of haughtinefs 
and contempt. But here, Reafon pleads 
the caufe of humanity, and thunders in 
the heart of the proud and the ambitious 
man; fhe inceffantly repeats to him, 
that the only true greatnefs is in the 
foul, and that the fouls of all men are 
the fame as to their origin and their 
deftiny ; fhe reminds him of the feeble 
and indigent ftate in which all are born, 
and in which all muft indiferiminately 
cad. 


As 


54 


As fociety has God himfelf for ks firk 
author and inkitutor, we become refrac¬ 
tory to his will, and worfe than favagCvS, 
if we refufe complying with its duties. 
In order to preferve harmony in the 
world, it was necelfary there fhould be 
a ^^eneral inteicourfe of wants and in- 
tereks, tending all to the fame objed; 
this necekity far from being painful or 
burdenfome, is one of the mok pleafing 
and confoling of our obligations. Man 
cannot enjoy the happinefs of exiking, 
but by doing good and affiking.his fellow 
creatures. No perfon is a kranger for 
the true philanthropik. Citizen of the 
world, he cherifhes alike the Greek and 
the Indian, the Afiatic and the Europe¬ 
an ; he weeps with thofe who are in 
afllidion, and rejoices with thofe who 
rejoice ; all to all, he places his happi¬ 
nefs in ferving and obliging all man¬ 
kind. 

Such a condud will no doubt, ap¬ 
pear to many as wonderful, and perhaps 
romantic; it is fuch however, as Reafon 

applauds. 


_ 55 

applauds. The avaricious and the 
proud, who are entirely fw^ayed by their 
felfilh paliions, are unacquainted with 
fuch cxquifice feelings, and are deaf to 
the calls of humanity ; but can any thing 
appear more degrading and humiliating 
in the eyes of Realbn, than the hardnefs 
and infcnfibility they alFect for the dif- 
treilcd ? hit not ontiaging and infuhing 
our own nature, to difov/n or defplfe 
even the lowefL of mankind ? If we cf- 
teem men only for their riches, is it not 
prefering the mere produdHon of the 
Earth to the piofl excellent of God’s 
works? What! then, is the drefs of 
greater value than the body, or gold and 
filver more precious than an immortal 
foul! 

We need not much profound fludy in 
order to know thefe truths, all that is 
necefiaryis to examine ourfelves : every 
man difeovers within himfelf thofe inti¬ 
mate relations he bears to all the indi¬ 
viduals of his fpecies. ' Our thoughts 
are continually directed to our neigh¬ 
bour, 


hour, to him our fpeech and our letters 
are addreffed, and notwithftanding our 
apathy or indifference, we are obliged 
frequently to have recourfe to fociety* 
He who lives the mofl retired and’ fe- 
cluded from the world, mufl; perceive 
that he’is flill in the raidfl of a country , 
or a city that is inhabited by other men : 
what would become of the greateffci 
monarch, if he were deferted by all hisj 
fiibjeds ? What would become of the! 
nobility, if they were not furroundedj 
by their domeflics and their valfais ? iiil 
fine, what would become of each of us, 
if entirely left alone, we flioulJ per¬ 
ceive around us nothing but trees and f 
rocks ? the yery idea of a city, with only P 
one fiiigle inhabitant in it, is enough to^ 
excite horror. The rich man and the it 
labourer ftand equally in need of each | 
other: our whole life is a continual 1 
ffate ofdependance ; and he who'thinks T 
himfelf the mofl free, if often the mofl ^ 
enflaved. By thefe refledions, infpired i 
by Reafon, we difeover a ray of immor- 
tality, even in the lowefl: of the human | 



57 


race, and difdain not to call them our 
brothers. We fhould never treat with 
haughtinefs or contempt thofe who ferve 
us, for they are beings of the fame na¬ 
ture of ourfelves: let not the pride 
and prefumption of the great, in order 
to degrade and humble their dependants, 
affefl to reprefent them as mean and 
mercenary creatures; is it to be ex- 
peded that a clafs of people, who have 
nothing, and who exped nothing but 
to be cad off when they are no longer 
fit for fervice, fhould be inclined from 
pure affedion, to ferve mafters who 
often treat them no better than their 
beads. Moreover, have we a right ever 
to difpenfe with the obligation of loving 
our neighbour, whatever may be his 
defeds ? even thofe who plunder us of 
our property, who feek to injure our re¬ 
putation, or w^ho even m.ake an attempt 
on our lives, ought not to excite our 
hatred or animofity 5 Reafon and Reli¬ 
gion teach us to love all mankind, to 
lament their errors, and to deplore their 
vices. The foul is fufceptiblc of fo 
D 5 many 


many different fentiments, that if we 
cannot efteein the wicked, we can and 
ought to pity and compaffionate them, 
the more fo, as aconfcioufnefs of our own 
weaknefs muft convince us that, a man 
who is abandoned by God, is capable 
of every excefs, let him who ftands, 
take heed left he fall fays the great 
Apoftle. 

What a happy change ftiould we fee 
in fociety, if all its members were ani-- 
mated with true Ghriftian charity; they 
would patiently bear each others bur¬ 
dens j no one would wilh to domi¬ 
neer over or to fupplam his neighbour; 
envy, malice and ftrife would be ban- 
nilhed out of the world all would be 
docile, courteous, humble anddifmte-' 
refted, and would ftudy only to conci¬ 
liate the fii^ndftiip and good will of each 
other. It is not furely paying a very 
flattering compliment to the human 
character, to fuppofe that people are 
obliged to have recourfe to a card table, 
in order to fhun flander and detradion* 

What 


59 


What then, an immortal foul, formed 
for virtue, muft be reduced to flira- 
tagems to acquit itfelf of its duties! 
What a fubjedl of humiliation ! but 
whatever kindnefs we may fhew our 
neighbour, Reafon teaches us that we 
fatisfy only a part of what humanity 
requires of us, if we confine our wiflies 
to his temporal advantage and profpe- 
rity, and do not extend our folicitude 
for him beyond this life. We fhould 
entertain-for the future happinefs of 
others, the fame anxiety and defire we 
have for our own eternal welfare. We 
jfhould be ever ready to give feafonable 
advice, Ihew good example, and hold 
fuch converfation as tends to infpire the 
love of virtue. This is undoubtedly the 
language of Reafen, however firange it 
may appear to thofe who are accufiomed 
to make ufe- of obfcene and impious 
exprelfions, in prefence of their domef- 
lics, and perhaps even of their children ; 
as if they wfifhed to defiroy their inno¬ 
cence and extinguifii every fentiment of 
Religion in their hearts. How .many 

fathers 


fathers who overlook, or even encou-^:i| 
rage the loofe and immoral conduct of ^ 
their fons, and who think of nothing 
but their momentary fortune and ad- ^ 
vancement in the world ! how many ^ \ 
among the Great, who a£l openly the.' | 
libertine with more alTurance, than others ^' 
pradife virtue ! If ever there was a time = 
when the focial duties feemed almofl 
entirely obliterated and forgotten, it is ■; 
in thefe our unhappy days there is 
neither affedion nor cordiality to be 
found in families, nor fincerity even “ 
among friends ; each perfon makes him- ^ 
felf his own centre, and thinks of ncr 
one but himfelf: Relation, Fiiend and 
Citizen, are become empty founds with¬ 
out any meaning. Selfifli and contraded 
feelings have fucceeded thofe generous 
and magnanimous fentiments. that dif- 
tinguilhed our fore-fathers. Some by- 
reading the writings of Materialifts feem f 
to have become entirely matter, theiri 
whole fludy is in the purfuit ofi 
brutal pleafures and fordid intereft, theiri 
foul appears to them as a fpedre, which J 


they cannot fee, andof which they doubt, 
but of which they are ftill afraid : they 
dare not enter into themfelves left Rea- 
fon ftiould murmur, and hence they 
feek for diflipation abroad. Others, who 
acknowledge they have a foul, are 
either wholly taken up with vain and 
futile amufements, or deeply immerfed 
in worldly bufinefsy which keeps their 
Reafon captive, people of this defcrip- 
tion cultivate fociety only for mere 
pleafure or intereff. 

The obligations we ow^e to fociety 
require that we ftiould fee, entertain^ 
and comfort each other; the gift of 
tears and fmiles was given us, to ex- 
prefs the joy or grief, we feel at the 
welfare or misfortunes of our neighbour. 
^Were people in general to confider that 
they were not made merely to farisfy 
their own liking, they would not find 
it fo difficult to be pleafed in company. 
A certain falfe brilliancy of wdr, thefe 
affefted airs, thefe manners, tones, and 
fafhionable expreffions-, which are now fo 

much 


62 


much admired, have utterly depraved 
the tafte for what is folid and ufeful; 
plain unadorned talents, genuine and 
fimple merit appear entirely grotefque ; 
people would be lefs delicate, if they 
knew how to find out more employ¬ 
ment and pay lefs vifits. 

It may not be amifs here to remark' 
the baleful influence of ill-humour^ that 
malady of the foul which is apt fuddenly 
to affail us, and render us the fcourge of 
our neighbours and our friends. Were 
it not for thh wretched temper, we 
fhould not fee hufbands become fo 
tyrannical, nor wives fo phraptious, nor 
mafters. fo inhuman. Sometimes it 
changes fuddenly from extravagant joy 
to melancholy, from love to hatred, 
from carcffes to inveftives, from hope 
to defpair, from avarice to prodigality, 
k deprives us of all confiflency and 
even of ourfelves: it excites the niofl 
unaccountable antipathies, and often* 
takes away all the merit of our beft 
adions. Reafon, ever guarded in her 
proceedings, 


proceedings, is always ^oppofed to this 
prepofterous failing, how often does fhe 
tell us that it is a foolifii thing to be out 
of temper without caufe ? if we da 
not attend to her remonftrances, it is 
becaufe we fuffer oiirfelves to be hurried 
away by our palTions ; fhe informs^ us 
that man is reafonable_only in as much 
as he is guided by. certain and fixed 
principles : that his life always uniform^ 
fiiould never be diflurbed by revolting 
alternatives ; t^at the heart fliould be 
be in perfed concert with the foul, 
and that the paflions fliould be employed 
only in the fupport of virtue and the 
the dignity of human nature. Were 
we attentive to this interior voice of 
Reafon, it would operate in us the moft 
wonderful and happy- effedls ^ it would 
engage us to be punQual in difcharging 
our juft debts, it would infpire us with 
benevolence and humanity ; it would 
prompt us to vifit the prifoner in his 
dungeon, and afford him confclation, 
to vifit the poor man in his cot, to 
chear and comfort him j to feek out the 

wddow 



04 


widow and the orphan, and protect 
them. We fhould confider our opulence 
only as a means of obliging and doing 
good, and our credit and intereft as an 
opportunity of introducing merit to 
public notice, and procuring it its juft 
reward. We fhould feel in fome mea- 
fure afliamed to poflefs more wit or 
talents, or property, or to be held in 
more confideration than others, left the 
comparifon might humble them. We 
fhould endeavour to leflen that diftance 
which the inequality of conditions and 
cuftom have placed between us and the 
lower order ; we fhould reckon among 
the days of our life, like that famous 
Emperor and Philofopher Titus, only 
thofe on which we had rendered fome 
fervice to mankind. 

It is' only by refpedfing arid loving 
others that we truly love and refpedl 
ourfelves. Moreover, in hating our 
brethren, we prepare for ourfelves a 
fource of torment and uneafmefs: “ it is a 
terrible thing, fays Madame de Sevigne, 

to 


to have a hatred to fuftain.” Happy the 
man whofe heart is free from all rancour 
and animofity, he will be cheriflred by 
God and man. Our greatefl enemies 
are often appeafed, enter into themfelves 
and repent, when we oppofe to their 
malice only patience and meeknefs ^ and 
it is our duty to contribute by every 
means in our power, to reform others" 
and to render them virtuous. 


CHAPTER V. 


ON FROVIBENCE. 


All things announce a fupreme and 
intelligent Being, who- fpread out the 
Heavens, who gave ftability to the Earth, 
who fank the profound abyfs, who com¬ 
municates motion to the whole univerfe. 
It was he who commanded the Sun and 
Stars to ftiine in the firmament, the 

Planets 




66 


Planets to roll in their orbits, the Earth 
to cloath itfelf with verdure, the Rivers 
to glide on, and the Sea to ebb and flow. 
It is he who caufes the blood to circus 
late through the veins and arteries of the 
finallefl: infedl, as well as of the greatefl 
monarch ; it is he who opens and clofes 
our career when he pleafes; who has 
counted all the grains of fand as well as 
the hairs of our head ; and who pene¬ 
trates into the inmoft receffes of our 
hearts. Thefe truths are fo fenfible ancf 
evident, that the pagans theinfelves have 
held the fame language. Seneca has' 
compofed a Treatife on Providence,, 
which (hews how eloquent and perfuafive 
Reafon is, in convincing us of the in¬ 
finite power and goodnefs of God. We 
need only then interrogate Reafon, to 
learn that there exifts even in the very 
bowels of the earth, the adion of an in¬ 
finite wifdom, that creates the fountains, 
engenders the metals, and forms the 
diamonds ; that confines thofe fubter- J 
aneous fires, which are ready to burfl: 
forth at the lead fignal of his will, and 

under 







6 ; 

under theappellation of nature, vivifies 
the roots of trees, plants, and flowers. 

In vain does ignorance and inipiety 
affed to difcover no other principle of 
[ adion in the univerfe than that of a 
j blind unintelligible nature : there is no 
1 motion or life but from the imprefiion 
j of the Divinity, whofe power nothing 
i canrefifl j w^ho from nothing has called 
[ forth all things into being, without any 
, other effort but a fimple ad of his will, 
i What power ! what greatnefs! God 
wills ^ and worlds of infeds, volatiles and 
' fifhes forthwith appear, move and obey 
the orders of their great Creator. God 
wills ; and intelligent fpirits capable of 
knowing and loving him, proceed, as it 
were, from his hands, and inflantly ani<- 
rnate raaffes of organifed earth, and 
form a wonderful fociety. God wills; 
and Reafon, which can neither be feen 
nor felt, imagines, plans, meafures, and 
builds, contemplates and obferves the 
Heavenly Bodies, computes and deter¬ 
mines their greatnefs, dives into fu¬ 
turity, 


68 


turity, and perceives immenfity of 
fpace. God wills ; and the world, di¬ 
vided into different forms of govern¬ 
ment, exifts under various laws and 
regulations dilated by juftice. God 
wills ; and a Religion, feeble and defpi- 
cable in appearance, and which had for 
its pillars, a few firnple and illiterate 
fifliermen., overturns the Capitol, fpreads 
itfelf from eaft to weft, and triumphs 
over all the powers of the earth. 

What fublime ideas does our Reafon 
give us of the power and majefty of 
God ! it announces him as the centre 
and plenitude of all perfedions, having 
immenfity for extent, and eternity for 
duration. Providence is, as it were, the 
glance of an all feeing God, who with 
one look meafures the earth, peoples and 
preferves it; he looks, and the whole 
univerfe falling into diffolution, pub-" 
lifhes, bydts deftrudion, that there is 
nothing ftable or permanent but that 
great Being whofe exiftence is from 
eternity. 


Wc 


69 

We experience continually in our- 
felves the influence of this ever attentive 
and beneficent Providence. We per¬ 
ceive our thoughts, in a regular and 
uninterrupted fucceflion, afcend to that 
infinite Source, and feem reafonable and 
tranquil only when they arrive to that 
degree of elevation ; we feel that the 
diftind a6:ion of the Soul and Body, 
which becomes one by reafon of the 
intimate connexion that fubfifls between 
them, could not take place but by the 
influence and afllftance of an abfolute 
and fuperior will, which operates in us 
without conftraining our liberty. 

Tell me, blind and perverfe Man, 
who darefl; to difown a Providence ; 
how thou art able to fiir even one of 
thy fingers: dofl thou know the muf- 
cles and nerves neceflfary to be put in 
motion, or dofl: thou take the time and 
trouble neceflary to make them aft ? 
thou wilhefl to flretch out or to bend 
rhy finger, and inftantly it obeys thy 
comniand. There is therefore fome- 

thing 


70 


riling fupernatural in thee, that thou 
doft not fee, and that co-operates with 
^thy will, every time thou moved, if 
thou haft not paid attention to, or art 
not capable of refle£l:ing on fo aftonifh- 
ing a prodigy, rather than to conteft or 
deny what thou doft not comprehend, 
clafs thyfelf among the brutes, and be 
fdent. 

Whoever denies an all wife Provi¬ 
dence, muft renounce his Reafon, the 
admirable texture of a flo\^er or a plant, 
the inftindl and fagacity of an infecl, the 
labour and induftry of a bee or a filk- 
worm, are fufficient to prove the exif- 
tence of an intelligent Being, whofe 
operations are no lefs wonderful than 
his defigns. If the world were only 
the produdion of blind chance, or of 
the mere fortuitous concourfe of atoms, 
as fome of our pretended Philofophers 
are pleafed to confider it, the mecha- 
nifm of a ftngle bee-hive could not fub- 
fift; Motion, Inftinci:, Reafon would 
be all confounded, and the univerfe 

would 


7 * 


|f ^'ould be buried in a frightful chaos. 

What misfortunes does not anarchy pro- 
: duce in a country! and what diforder 
: do we not perceive in a houfe where the 
• .mailer is neither obeyed nor refped^dj 

Cicero who had not the advantage, 
,as we have, of the light of Revelation, 
has recourfe only to Reafon to deny the 
plurality of Gods, and to admit but one, 
who created and preferves us. If, fays 
he, from the plan, execution, beauty 
and. defign of a (lately Edifice, we con¬ 
clude that an intelligent and fkilful Artifl 
mufl have been employed to prefide 
over and . direct it, how great mufl we 
fuppofe is thewifdom and knowledge of 
him, who projedled, planned and ar¬ 
ranged all the different parts of this 
Univerfe. This Sun, that never fails to 
appear at the precife moment of time 
appointed for him ; this .Moon, that 
returns faithfully each evening, as if fhe 
were called ; this flowing and ebbing 
of the tide that feems, as it w^ere, to 
Eave ears to hear th.e voice of its maf- 
' ter 




72 


ter and obey his orders, are not thefe 
fo many witneffes who depofe in favour 
of an eternal, immutable, and all wife 
Providence, whofe decrees are infallibly 
executed. 

The more our Reafon is confounded 
at the fight of thofe globes of fire, that 
roll over our heads; or at the recollec¬ 
tion of thefe immenfe refervoirs con¬ 
fined beneath our feet; the more is it 
convinced of the power and greatnefs 
of that infinite Being, who made all, 
embraces all, and knows all. Though 
our Reafon is loft in the midft of this 
great fluid that furrounds us, and with¬ 
out which we could not exift one Angle 
inftant ; though flie knows not the ef- 
fence of either fpirit or matter ; fhe has 
however fufficient knowledge to difcover 
that the world could not have made 
itfelf, and that he who created it, muft 
have been an all-pow^erful, all wife and 
neceflary Being; it requires then no 
great depth of ftudy or penetration to 
fee that Spinofifts and Atheifts are fools, 

whofe 


73 


Tvhofe minds have been perverted by 
the corruption of their hearts, the pea- 
fant'^on beholding the firmament, and 
the child on confidering his own weak- 
nefs, naturally acknowledge a Creator. 

Is it not Providence, as Reafon tells 
us, who has fo regulated the goods and 
ills of this life, whether in reality, or 
merely in the idea which each indivi¬ 
dual forms of them, that all ranks of 
people experience nearly the fame de¬ 
gree of joy and fadnefs ? is it not Pro¬ 
vidence, who, to punifh the rich and 
great ones of the world, for their ex- 
cefiive covetoufnefs, and unbounded 
ambition, has delivered them up to fuch 
capricious and infatiable defires, which 
they can never fatisfy ? is it not Provi¬ 
dence, who, to accomplifli his defigns, 
which to us are infcriitable, fuddenly 
fnatches away one in the beginning of 
his career, whilft he leaves another to 
live a century ; Who heaps riches and 
profperity on fome, whilH: he permits 
others to be dripped of all, and to pine 
. E in 


74 


in indigence and want; who fometimes 
fuffers the wicked to flourifh, whilft he 
permits the juft to be exercifed by ca¬ 
lumny and tribulation ? 

Were w^e to enter into a detail of this 
animal life, which engrofles all our cares, 
^we fhould again difcover Providence in 
a mdft intelligible and vifible mannerc 
We fhould qonfider with aftonifhment 
and admiration how the great majority 
of mankind, without any other refource 
but their hands and their infliiftry, bring 
up numerous families, and know not, 
after a feries of years, how they have 
been enabled to defray all their expen- 
ces: if you aik a poor tradefman how 
he has .contrived to educate and main¬ 
tain fuch a number of children, he will 
tell ypu with furprife, that he cannot 
conceive from whence his refources 
came, unlefs from the bounty of Pro¬ 
vidence. Yes, the fame God who nou- 
riflies the young ravens, multiplies daily 
the 7 neal of the widow of Sarepta^ and 
with five loaves feeds five thoufand people. 

How 


75 


How often in the moft trying and defpe- 
rate fituations, have we,felt the impref- 
fion of the hand of Providence ftretched 
forth to wipe away our tears, and to re¬ 
lieve us in our diftrefs. 

Oftentimes we imagine, like St. 
Peter, that the bark in which we fail, 
is ready to fink and to be fwallowed up 
by the waves, and that we are juft on 
the brink of ruin; but as foon as we 
enter into ourfelves, we hear a voice 
that cries out to us, to fear not, but to 
put our confidence in him who commands 
the fea and the winds^ and to recoiled; 
that we are always in the hands of a 
God, who never fleeps, and whofe eyes 
are continually open on us ; of a God 
who but opens his hand, and every ani¬ 
mal is filled with benedidion; who 
fends the dew, the rain, and the cool 
breezes to refredi the earth ; who be¬ 
llows on it all its beauteous and various 
colours, all its balmy fragrance and 
rich perfumes ; of a God whofe wifdom, 
according to the lively expreftion of the 
E 2 Scripture, 


j6 

Scripture, Teems to fport and play m 
this univerfe, and whofe delight is to 
dwell among the children of men. It is 
this infinite wifdom, whofe almighty 
power calls forth that which is, as well 
as that which is not; whofe eternal de¬ 
crees can difconcert and fruflrate all the 
vain projedls and defigns of men ; for 
him there is nothing pad or to come, 
all things are prefent to his view, he fees 
with one glance all fuccefTive generations 
from the firfl man to the lad, as if they 
actually exided ; he has no need of any 
one but hiinfelf to enjoy, in the mod 
eminent degree, the immenfity of his 
'happinefs. 

Were we not accudomed to judge of 
things by their mere furface or appear¬ 
ance, we fhould be convinced that no¬ 
thing happens in the world, but what is 
determined by the exprefs order or per- 
midion of divine Providence. We 
fhould not imagine that thofe difeafes 
^with which we are adlided, or thefe 
infecls that torment us, or thofe misfor¬ 
tunes 


77 ' 

tunes that befall us, are the eiFecl of 
mere chance, or to be confidered as real 
ills : all has been regulated and forefeen 
by that infinite wifdom, whofe defigns 
are impenetrable, but ever adorable and 
ever jull. That father of a family who 
dies and leaves after him a number of 
helplefs children, who feem to be fo 
much in need of his affiftance and in- 
duflry; thofe intimate friends, whom 
we fo much loved and efleemedj and 
who have been fuddenly fnatched away 
from us, ferve to teach us that there is 
no man neceffary ; that we poflcfs all, 
when we pofTefs God ; that we flmuld 
dread nothing nor confider any misfor¬ 
tune real, but that of incurring his dif- 
pleafure ; that a death which appears to 
us as a moft dreadful and deplorable 
calamity, may become the fource of a 
thoufand benefits which we are now 
incapable of conceiving, becaufe our 
views are limited, and becaufe the 
thoughts and ways of God are entirely 
different from the ways and thoughts of 


men^ 


If 


78 

If thefe myfterious fecrets which arc 
now wrapted up in the darknefs of futu¬ 
rity, were fuddenly difclofed to our fighty 
we would form very different notions 
of the prefent occurences and events ; 
we would be perfuaded that what we 
confider a great misfortune, is in reality 
a peculiar bleffing ^ for inftance this* 
fit of ficknefs, or that ftroke of adver- 
fity has brought us to a ferious recollec-r 
tion of ourfelves, has proved the means 
of our converfion, and enfured for us 
an immenfe Crown of Glory for eter¬ 
nity ; the moft trivial incident in appear¬ 
ance is the link of a chain, which 
reaches to future ages, and becomes the. 
principle and fource of innumerable ad¬ 
vantages. Such are the leffons Reafon 
teaches us, in order to render us more 
cautious and circumfpedl in our judg¬ 
ments. Is it for us weak mortals to fa¬ 
thom the depths of infinite vvifdom, to 
trace out the infcrutable ways of God, 
to prefume to draw out plans, to form 
projeds and defigns according to our 
caprice or our prejudices! God faw all 

that 


79 


that he had made, fays the Scripture, 
and it was good. This fliould be fufli- 
cient to calm all our doubts with regard^ 
to what we cannot comprehend in na¬ 
ture. 

Our injuflice and ingratitude towards 
Providence proceeds from the iinre- 
llrained liberty we allow our paflions, 
fuffering them, to obfcure our Reafon, 
and confidering this world as our lad 
end : tvere we to refle<^l: that this fleeting 
and tumultuous life is but a momeni: 
compared to eternity, and that it is 
from this eternity we fhould fet out, in 
order to form a right judgment; v/e 
would then difcover the defign and the 
plot of many things which now we are 
not able to reconcile or account for : 
for indance, we would learn that this 
good man expired in the midd of his 
career, becaufe he was ripe for Heaven ; 
whereas that impious and wicked man 
is fuffered to live for the trial and exer- 
cife of the jud. All the different parts 
of this Univerfe are fo many lines which 

are 


8o 


are all united in eternity, the centre 
and term of all that exifts. The man 
who keeps this perfpeclive before him, 
is no longer furprifed or alarmed at the 
apparent contradictions, or ftrange 
events which form the hiflory of this 
lower world. 

If we take a view of courts, we dif- 
cover nothing but intrigues, duplicity, 
caprice, and all the various changes of 
fickle and inconftant fortune; if we 
W'alk through the mid ft of a great city,^ 
we fee covetoufnefs, frauds and the 
fruits of an induftry merely human ; if- 
we range through the country, we be- ^ 
hold rocks, mountains and vallies that 
feem promifcuoufly fcattered here and 
there, as it were by blind chance ; one 
is born a prince, another a plebeian, by 
a concurrence of circumftances that feem 
entirely fortuitous ; fome glitter in the 
midft of riches and honors, whilft others 
languifh in wretchednefs and obfcurity, 
from a complication of caufes unknowil 
to us ; you frequently fee people,- by a 
, kind 


8 i 


kind of impulfe which they cannot ac¬ 
count for, quit their kindred and their 
native homes to repair to foreign climes 
thoufands of miles diilant ; all this ap- 
pears to be only the refult of accident or 
chance, yet it is all ordered and regu¬ 
lated by Divine Providence. . It is he 
who directs the lot and deftiny of all; 
who places one on a tlironCi and leaves 
another on a dung-hill, it is he who dif 
pojing powerfully andfweetly of all^ reaches 
from end to end^Tind caufes all to concur 
in the accomplifliment of his defigns. 
We are but agents or iiiftruments in the 
hands of God, and whilil we feem to 
follow our own will, we are only ex¬ 
ecuting what his fovereign will has de- 
tor mined. . The univerfe, like thofe au- 
tematons. which exc?te cur admiration, 
feems to move in an imperceptible man¬ 
ner; but it is the Supreme Aitift that 
fets all its fprings in motion, and direfts 
them as he pleafes. That almighty 
hand which has traced out in our conn- 
tenance the mars of joy or fadnefs, has 
E 5 allb 


82 


alfo opened for us the courfe we have 
j to run, and flops it in an inflant. 

What do I behold throughout all 
nature! cries out the admirable Fcn- 
elon, I fee God, and God every where, 
and ftill God alone. But man feems to 
have eyes only to fee fhadows, while 
truth appears to him but as a phantom j 
what is nothing, is to him every thing 
and what is every thing, feems to him as 
nothing. Men give credit to a thoufand 
hypothefes or notions which are only 
the offspring of the imagination or of 
prejudice, and Call in doubt the mofl in- 
conteflible fads. Without a Providence, 
who continually watches over us, could 
we venture to move or walk, where we 
have nothing but precipices and fnares 
before us? there is no reafonable man 
who would not tremble at every ftep he 
takes, were he not convinced of the 
prefence of an all powerful and bounti¬ 
ful God. Who, but that God has 
taught the ox to know his flail, the dog 
to know his mafter, the caflor to build 

his 


83 

his houfe, the fox to conceal his prey, 
and the fwallow mafon-like to ered its 
neft. Read the book of Job, and you 
there difcover the action of Providence 
in the fmalleft leaf that- is carried away 
by the wind, or in the leaft drop of rain 
that falls from the clouds. Life and 
death obey his command, and the we'ak- 
eft cry proves his power as well as the 
rattling peals of thunder. 

Hillory is but a barren and dry recital, 
if in each event we do not difcover, like 
the great Boffuet, an invifible Power and 
AVifdom who rewards and punifhes; 
who raifes or calls down ; who builds up 
or deflroys. We every where fee this 
God both bountiful and terrible, diL 
penfing his favours, or infii&ing his 
fcourges, infpiring love and terror. At 
one time in the dreadful execution of his 
vengeance, he overturns thrones, lays 
wafte whole cities and countries by 
peftilence, famine, or the fword, and 
fweeps away thoufands of their inhabit¬ 
ants. At another time he calls an eje 

of 




of pity, and the fhepherd exchanges his 
crook for a fceptre, and takes his feat 
among the annointed of the Lord. At 
certain times he raifes up fome extraor¬ 
dinary and priviledged mortals, whom 
he employs as inftruments to effeft fome 
great revolution in the political hemi- 
fphere, and the face of the earth is renew¬ 
ed, At other times he feems to leave 
the world, as it were, abandoned to it- 
felf, and entirely deflitute of fpirit or 
genius. Happy ! thrice happy the 
reafonable man, who thus fees, ad¬ 
mires, and adores the all-wdfe and juft 
difpenfations of Providence, with a mix¬ 
ed fenfation of/ear and hope, ’till God 
is pleafed at length to manifefl himfelf 
and difcover to him all thefe fecret 
fprings which before w^re hidden from 
his view. Then he fhall acknowledge 
that all was perfedly in order, and that 
the conduct of God with refpe(T to the 
world, w'as a myftery not to be revealed 
till after death, and worthy to be ihe 
fubje<^ of our meditation and our praifes 

for 


8s 

for all eternity : then he fhall have caufe 
to rejoice that he lived in that ftate of 
obfcurity and indigence which is now 
dcfpifed, and that he experienced thofe 
croffes and tribulations, wliich afforded 
an opportunity of exercifing his pati¬ 
ence, and of meriting animmenfe crown 
of blifs. 


CHAPTER VI. 

OiV GOOD AND EVIL. 

T. HE chara^ers of Good and Evil are 
fo clearly and diflinflly marked, that 
thofe of the fed called Manicheans, ad¬ 
mitted two oppofite principles ; the one, 
they confidered as the author of order, 
and the other of diforder. What can be 
more ftriking or fenfible than this fcene 
.we every day behold of virtues and 
vices, and the continual ftruggle and 

oppofition 




86 


oppofition that fubfifls between them, 
whence originate fo many inteftine and 
open wars, at which humanity lliudders* 
Our Reafon cannot be decayed as to 
what conftitutes the effence of good, and 
would undoubtedly be ever invariably 
attached to it, were it not diverted from 
it and hurried away by the violence of 
the palTions. We miftake what is only 
apparent, for the true good ; this is the 
fatal error of the generality of mankind ; 
all fet out in purfuit of happinefs, and 
often think they have attained the re¬ 
ality, when they have only grafped at a 
fhadow. 

The general idea, therefore, of Good 
and Evil is not arbitrary or obfcure : but 
let us here confider -what this good is, 
that all are fo defirous of, and this evil 
that all wifh to fhun. Without entering 
into ufelefs difcuflions which would tend 
only to confound and diftrad: our no¬ 
tions, we (liall fnnply define Good, rela¬ 
tively to us, as the harmony and agree¬ 
ment of the foul with that immutable 

order 


8 ; 

order which God has eftablifhed j and' 
as often as this harmony is deftroy^d, 
there refults a difcordance, which we 
call evil : hence it follows that Good is 
fomething real, whereas evil is only the 
privation or want of order ; hence alfo 
it is nranifefi:, that God, who creates 
only what is real, cannot be the author 
of evil. 

Whoever would be fo prefumptuous 
and extravagant as to maintain that we 
have no idea of good, mull necelfarily 
deny that w^e have any idea of order: 
but w^ho could dare advance fo evident 
a falfehood ? has not the groflell and 
moft ignorant of mankind a natural 
idea of order and fymetry, whereby they 
difiinguifh what is regularly arranged, 
from what is confufed and diforderly, 
and find more pleafure in viewing a 
delightful garden, where all the beauties 
of art and nature are difplayed, than a 
wild uncultivated fpot over-run with 
weeds, where he fees nothing but barren 
rocks, briars, thorns, and brambles, 

fcattered 


88 


fcattered here and there In confufioni 
Our eyes, thofe faithful mirrors of tlie 
foul, naturally reft with complacency on 
regular and beautiful objeds, and turn 
away with difguft fram thofe that are 
deformed, becaufe there is in us a prin¬ 
ciple of difcernment which involuntarily 
attaches us to what is true and beautiful. 
I am aware that our ideas with refpedt 
to moft things, are apt to vary with our 
prejudices and taftes ; yet, in point of 
beauty and order, there is a kind of 
centre of union in which ail are forced 
to agree. 

The moft glorious privilege of 
Reafon is to be able rightly to difcri> 
niinate between good and evil, that is 
between what is conformable and what 
is contrary to the law. Men who are 
influenced only by fiefh and blood, may 
vainly attempt to obfcure thefe grand 
truths and maintain that the natural law 
is not univerfal ; the taculry of thinking 
alone, which confTitutes the effence of 
the foul, evidently confutes this ground- 

lefs 


89 

lefs affertion. The order of the univerfe, 
as well as that which we perceive in our- 
felves, from the facility we find to form 
and combine our ideas, recalls us con¬ 
tinually to that pritnordial order that 
gives colours, tones, and fprings, to all 
that exifls, and all that breathes. What 
a vafl field would here open to our 
view, were we to enter into a philofo- 
phical difiertation on the fcience of 
numbers, which not being arbitrary, is 
found to be the fame every where, in 
the Savage as in the Chinefe, in the 
Peafant as in the Academician. 

From the notion of good and evii, 
refult the different virtues. Man, feeing 
himfelf placed as it were between light 
and darknefs, and feeling that the foul 
cannot be happy but in as much as it 
is enlightened, eagerly turns to the fun 
of truth, and difcovers by its light, the 
ideas that ought to dired him : he then 
advances with confidence in the road 
that leads to true happinefs, and fur- 
mounts every obftacle that may occur : 

thefe 


thefe are the virtuous part of mankind j 
whilft thofe who fuffer themfelves to be 
hurried away by the violence of their 
paflions,' are continually wandering 
aftray, without ever examining from 
whence they fet out, or whither they 

tend- 

Virtue therefore originates from the 
knowledge and love of order, whereas 
vice is the offspring of darknefs and 
confufion. As foon as luft, envy, 
anger, ambition, and the other pafiions 
gain polfeflion of the foul, Ihe can no 
longer fee, being blinded by -the dark 
veils that cover her fight. If at times 
they emit a certain gleam, it is but the 
reflection of a fire, the more dangerous 
as it is often miftaken for the true light. 
Hence it is that many feem to enjoy 
calm repofe in the moft enormous vice’s: 
hence it is that the confcicnce lofes all 
remorfe, and becomes entirely calous 
or lethargic. 


Reafon 



Reafon never fails to cry out to every 
man, as foon as he begins to ftrayfrom 
the path of reditude. and order ; but 
how can he hear her voice, when he 
no longer refides within himfelf ? this 
unfortunate pronenefs to diflipation fo 
common to mankind, is the fatal fource 
of every evil; it reduces us to mere 
fpe£tres without life or foul, and our 
adlions are perpetually in contradidion 
with our origin and our deftiny. 

That evil which we confider as a mat¬ 
ter of indifference or of little concern 
with refpect to the Supreme Being, is a 
dired attack on his power and wifdom. 
God wills that his laws fhould be exe¬ 
cuted, and we violate and fubvert 
them; God has eftablifhed that order 
which conflitutes the harmony of the 
univerfe, and we derange and difturb 
it: ftill he permits evil, in order to af¬ 
ford an opportunity of meriting, and 
to (hew us that it is only by combating, 
we can obtain the vidory. If every 
time we are ready to yield to the temp¬ 
tations 


tations of vice, we would ferioully 
enter into ourfelves and interrogate our 
Reafon, what powerful' motives would 
file fuggeft, to reftrain and deter us: 
What! for a falfe and'momentary gra*' 
tincation will you rifk your eternal weU 
fare? will you expofe yourfelf to dif* 
eafe, to remorfe, to that excruciating 
anguifh of the mind which arifes from 
diforder ? will you fuffer your immortal: 
foul to fihk: below the- iiidind: of the 
brute ? when once we begin ferioufly to 
refledl, we look back' with horror and 
aftonifhment on the errors and extrava¬ 
gant folly of a licentious and diforderly 
life. We fee behind us thofe precipices 
into which we had plunged ourfelves 
in afpiring to rife. As Reafon was given 
to each of us to be our oracle and our 
guide, what ftruggles mufi: it have cofl 
thofe proud ambitious men to ftifle and 
fupprefs its murmurs ? by fhaking oif all 
reftraint of the laws of God and man, 
they opened to themfelves a road to 
every fpecies of crimes and diforder, 
cannonifed the moft fhameful and enor¬ 


mous 


93 


mous vices, and confidered the moft fa- 
cred ordinances as the mere invention 
of human policy. 

The dreadful ravages evil has com¬ 
mitted in the world, exhibit a moft hi¬ 
deous pi(fture of all ages. When once 
this tyrant has ufurped the empire of the 
fenfes, he enflaves the heart and blinds 
.the underftanding; The annals of hif- 
tory fully confirm this melancholy truth. 
They prefent to our view one continued 
'fcene of the deplorable effeds of luft, 
^nger, cruelty and ambition ; they are, 
in a word, the reality of thofe frightful 
tragedies that are reprefented on the 
•ftage, 

;But what is much more lamentable is, 
that under the difpenfation of a religion 
.the nioft holy and pure in its dodrine, 
we ftill behold a continuation of the 
fame evil and the fame crimes that pre¬ 
vailed in the, midft of idolatry. Nay, 
’even the corruption which in the times 
iof paganifm proceeded merely from the 

violence 


94 


violence of the paflions, feems now to 
be the refult of cool and deliberate re- 
fledlion. 

Vice is now reduced to a fyflem, and 
people are become libertines from prin¬ 
ciple.; fuch is the dangerous and per¬ 
nicious tendency of fome of our mo¬ 
dern publications, equally fubverfive of 
the morals and of the peace and order 
of fociety. We may juftly exclaim with 
Cicero in his oration againft Cataline, 
What times ! What morals ! and yet fome 
are pleafed to call this the enlightened 
Age, the the age of Reason. 

If in the midil of this univerfal de¬ 
pravity, Reafon had not fome refource 
in the few good and virtuous who con¬ 
tinue to acknowledge and refpedt her, 
fhe might appear as a chimera, or the 
mere produdion of the imagination ; 
but there (till remains fome pure and 
genuine virtue in the world, notwith- 
llanding the efforts of impiety to tarnifh 
jts luftre. The idea and tlie exiftence 

of 


95 


of Virtue can never be entirely extin- 
guiflied; if fome defert her, others 
rally under her ftandard. Our diffe¬ 
rent relations to God are too"' many and 
powerful to fuffer his knowledge or his 
love to be wholly obliterated : he is the 
life of the foul, and Reafon will ever 
convince us that we have but a fhadow 
of exiilence, unlefs we exift for hinv 
. there is no good but from him, and 
without good the univerfe could not 
fubfift : it is not fo with, evil, it was in¬ 
troduced after a certain period. The 
world fiourifhed in its happy hate of 
.innocence, when the fpirit of revolt 
.^anie to diffurb.and defl:roy,its repofe. 

However Reafon .informs us that 
^ both the phyfical ..and the moral evil 
^ enter into the great plan of the Almighty, 
and that both may conduce to our real 
good. Who can fathom the depth of 
divine wifdom ? who hath affifted at 
his counfels ? who hath been able to 
iuvefligate his ways or to know his dc- 
/igas ? if it be a mod certain and incon- 

teftable 


96 

teftable truth, that God is juftice and 
goodnefs itfelf, can we refufe to believe 
that all is perfedly in order, and that 
there is nothing that he has not regu¬ 
lated and forefeen, though this prefci-^ 
ence and this order by no means deftroy 
man’s liberty ? 

The daily experiments that are made 
in medi ine and in natural philofophy, 
are enough to convince us that all created 
things have their ufe. How many 
infedls, reptiles and plants, which before 
were confidered noxious or ufelefs, are 
now ufed in the compofition of medical 
prefcriptions. God has given the earth 
and its productions to man, in order 
that he might apply himfelf to ftudy their 
nature and difcover their properties. 
Before the ufe of filk was known, the 
worms that produced it appeared to be 
mere caterpillars, and were looked on 
with horror; until people began to 
make ufe of the turtle, the crab, and 
the lobfter for their food, their afpeCt • 
feemed frightful and difgulting, it could 

not 


97 


not be conceived how God could fonn 
fuch ufelefs and deformed creatures. 
Thefe confiderations fhould filence all 
our vain complaints and murmurs 
againfl: Providence : if there were no 
wolves, faid, one day, a boy who was 
guarding a flock of fheep, there would 
be no fhepherds, and I could not gain a 
lively-hood : this reflexion, puerile as it 
is, gives us to underdand that all crea¬ 
tures in this world ferve each other mu¬ 
tually, and that every Evil is compen- 
fated by fome Good. 

If to thefe obfervations we add, that 
there is no real evil but the injury that 
is done to the foul, and confequently 
that all the reverfes of fortune, all the 
erodes and calamities of this life, that 
ficknefs and even death itfelf, are only 
imaginary evils, mud we not conclude, 
that all has been wifely ordained by 
Providence. In twenty, or ten years 
hence, or perhaps to-morrow, what will 
all thefe misfortunes appear, which now 
overwhelm us whh grief and afflidion. 

F \¥hen 


9S 

When ready to fink into the grave, 
■will it be a matter of much concern to 
us, whether we lived in opulence or 
in poverty ; in fplendor, or obfeurity ? 
Whenfurrounded with thegloomy fhades 
of death, fhall we even beftow a thought 
on thofe objeds which before engroffed 
our affe£lion. All has difappeared, all 
is forgotten ; there remains but the idea 
of God, before whom the foul is then to 
appear, to receive its reward or punifh- 
ment. Were thefe great truths ever 
prefent to our mind, our Reafon con¬ 
tinually retracing them in our memory, 
would become the guide and faithful 
guardian of our confcience : fhe would 
teach us to (liun the honors and plea- 
fures of this life, and the vainapplaufe 
of men, to defpife w’orldly pomp and 
riches and direft-our thoughts and de¬ 
fires to Heaven. 

As to the moral Evil, which is Sin, like 
a poifon which is changed into an ex¬ 
cellent and powerful remedy, it has been 
;the occafion of procuring us .the mofi: 

vine dim able 


99 


ineftimable blefTings. Thus St. Auguf - 
tine, in the enthufiafm of Reafon, ex- 
claims, happy fault of Adam 1 fault 
neceflary to obtain for us the immenfe 
benefit of a Redeemer ! it is by fin the 
juft are exercifed ; it is on account of 
fin they continually afpire to heaven, 
and confider this earth as a valley of 
tears, and a place of exile. Virtue, in 
oppofition to fin, appears more beauti¬ 
ful, pure, and luminous, as the fun 
fhines with greater luftre after emerg¬ 
ing from a dark cloud; moreover, the 
dread, of fin always keeps us on our 
guard, and in a ftate of humiliation, 
fear, and trembling, engages us to pray 
continually, to enter into frequent con- 
verfation with the Supreme Being, and 
to have conftant recourfe to the aflift- 
ance of his heavenly grace. 

^Fhefe reflexions are the fuggeftions 
of Reafon, would we but duly attend 
to them, we fhould form more juft and 
proper notions of Good and Evil; we 
flicuid not place our happinefs in earth- 
F 2 ly 


10® 


ly poffeflions, nor in fenfual gratificati¬ 
on. The true Good, which is Virtue, 
can alone fully fatisfy and elevate the 
foul, but the pleafures of this world 
ferve only to diiTipate^ difturb, and de¬ 
grade the mind, they always leave after 
them a void that we never can fill up. 
Man may fallen upon different objeds 
here below, and vainly flatter himfelf 
with the hope of being completely hap¬ 
py in their enjoymentthere is no real 
happinefs to be found but in the con¬ 
tempt of all created things, and in a 
Arm attachment to God alone. 

Whatever pleafure w^e take contrary 
to the order ^ablifhed by the Creator, 
as it tends more or lefs to derange the 
plan of the Univerfe, becomes a greater 
or lefs evil. In order to conftitute a 
good adion, the objed, the end, and 
circumftances are required ; if any one 
of thefe be defedive, the adion is really 
evil. Such is the clear and juff idea 
Reafon gives us of Good and Evil. 


CHAPTER 


10'l 


'chapter vir. 


0N rH£ iNE^^ALirr of con Din one. 


Men by prepoflerous and chimeri¬ 
cal diftindtions, and by pretentions flill 
more abfurdj: have placed fuch a vaH: 
difproportion between man and man, 
that they might almoft feein to be of a 
different fpecies. It is only Reafon that 
approximates thefe diflances, acknow¬ 
ledges and' refpefts humau nature in the 
mod miferable, as well as in the mod 
opulent. She laments that a man fhould 
be defpifed or thought nothing of, be- 
caufe he has no fortune or title of dif- 
tind:icn. No doubt, fubcrdination which 
is fo indefpenfably necefiary for the 
maintenance of order and harmony in 
fociety, requires that a certain deference 
diould be paid to thofe who are condi- 

tuted 


102 


t^ted in power; but does it follow 
from hence, that we ought to defpife 
and difown thofe who cannot boaft of 
riches or anceftry, but who, perhaps, 
may have a much more valuable ftock 
of virtue and merit. 

Reafon analifes thefe goods and thefe 
honors -of which worldlings are fo 
proud, (he judges whether they have a 
right to defpife fuch as are not pofTefled 
them. She examines what they are, 
how long they laft, and what advantage 
they produce : fhe difcovers that they 
almofl entirely, depend on caprice, or 
on prejudice ; that they pafs like a flafli 
of lightning, and are often the caufe of 
the greatefl misfortunes. Pride, igno¬ 
rance, infenfibility, the forgetfulnefs of 
one’s-feif and of God, are frequently 
the attendants on riches and worldly 
grandeur: they feem to dazzle at a dif- 
tance, but when duly examined, are 
found to be an irkfome burden. There 
is fcarce any littlenefs or meanefs that 
moft of the great-ones are not ready to 

Hoop 


103 


ftoop to, in order to gain their ends; 
as if they were condemned to pay this 
kind of intereft for their opulence and 
their vain fplendor. 

How ludicrous and contemptible muff 
appear in the eyes of Reafon thefe 
haughty airs, thefe proud fupercilious 
looks, which people of fortune are fo 
apt to aflume : would thofe,- who thus 
abufe. their pretended greatnefs, but 
fook into their own hearts, they would 
there difcover the teftimony of truth 
that appears againfl them, and ceafes 
not to reproach them with fuch ridi¬ 
culous affectation; but they are too 
frivolous and diflipated to attend to it; 
they imagine they cannot fupport their 
confequence and dignity but by a6ling 
with hauteur. Let them defcend for a 
while into the lower circles, and hear 
what the common people fay of themj 
they will find, that fimple as they are, 
they, know how to take revenge of the 
pride of the great, by defpifmg them in 
their turn, and that their eloquence on 

this 


104 


this fubje£t is very energetic^ for Reafon 
is common to all conditions. 

The inequality of conditions then is 
ufeful and reafonable only in as much 
as the individuals of every order, en¬ 
deavour mutually to ferve, inftead of 
defpifing or envying each other, and all 
concur in promoting the general good of 
fociety, as in the human body, each 
member aids and afTifts the other. As 
the fmalleft ftreams help to fup-ply the 
great rivers, fo the pooreft peafant con¬ 
tributes to the embellifhment and pre- 
fervation of theftate. We all enter into 
the formation of that great chain of 
beings which extends from God down 
to the moft diminutive infect, we 
derange the links of it, if we quit that 
fituation in which Providence has placed 
us. O thou rafh and proud man! who 
looked down with difdain on the poor 
labourer who tills the land, knoweft 
thou not that it is he who furnidies thee 
by the fweat of his brow, the neceflary 
provifions for thy fupport, and but for 

him. 


105 


him, famine would befiege thy palace 
and fill it with the hori'ors of death ? 
What 1 the blood that flows through 
thy veins belongs in fome meafure to 
that ruflic, whom thou wouldfl fcarce 
vouchfafe to loo)ion? but to humble 
thy pride,, let me tell thee that, whilfl: 
thy exiftence is of no confequence to 
the (late, his is the fupport of it; 

O how truly refpedable is the honefl:,. 
humble, and laborious part of mankind 
in the eyes of Reafon ! were we to fol¬ 
low them from the firfl: dawn of day, 
hill after the fetting of the fun, and 
compare them with thofe drones, thofe 
vegetating beings, who axe only a bur¬ 
den on fociety, we would learn to fet a 
jufl: value on the moft ufeful and induf- 
trious clafs of the community ; nay, we 
often find more pure and genuine fenti- 
ments, more difintereflednefs and ge- 
nerofiry in the poorer and lower order 
of the people, than among the rich and,, 
great'Ones of the world. 


W'e. 


io6 

We may here add, that one of the 
principal caufes of diforder and confu- 
lion in fociety, arifes from the reftlefs 
difpofition of people afpiring to fituati- 
ons and employments which they are 
not qualified to fill, and quitting that 
fphere of life for which they were deftin- 
ed : when men are hurried on by the 
impulfe of their paflions, they imagine 
themfelves equal to any undertaking they 
embark in, however arduous or critical. 
It would be an ufelefs enquiry to examine 
whether a perfect equality of conditions 
would be more advantageous to man¬ 
kind, than the prefent inequality ; Rea- 
fon teaches us that it would be folly in 
the extreme to wifh for what cannot be, 
Sind that wifdom confifts in living coiir* 
tent in whatever Hate or condition Pror 
vidence has placed us. External things 
are apt to make too ftrong an impreflion 
on our minds, becaufe we do not refide 
within ourfelves: is not our eflence 
the fame under whatever kind of go¬ 
vernment we live, whether monarchi¬ 
cal or republican ? When the mind 

knows 


107 

Icnows how to poffefs itfelf, it remaing 
immoveable amidfl: all the the changes 
or revolutions that happen in the world; 
it confiders the mofl; brilliant and dif- 
tinguilhed employments as a theatrical: 
exhibition ; in a fhort time the fcene is 
clofed. We fhould judge in like man¬ 
ner of the moral as of the phyfical order ; 
as a Parterre pleafes by its variety, fo 
the mixture of foeiety has its charms : 
the fudden fall of one, and the elevation 
of another ; the profperous and affluent 
condition of fome, and the wretched 
and indigent ftate of others, are objects 
which Ihould engage us ardently to af- 
pire to that happy ftate of perfedt juftice, 
in which there will be no viciffltude nor 
reverfe of fortune. Change is neceftary 
in a world which cannot exift but by 
motion ; we are therefore to expect re¬ 
volutions here below, and confider, ac¬ 
cording to the expreffion of the wife 
man, that there is nothing ftable or per- - 
nianept under the fun... 


CIIAPTEil 


CHAPTER VIIL 


ON THE NECESSjrr OF LAITS. 

As all men have their different taftes,, 
propenfities, and prejudices, it was ab- 
folutely requifite that there fhould be a 
point of union, and a certain tie to bind 
them to the obfervance and pradice of 
the fame duties and the fame virtues j 
without this precaution which wifdoin 
fuggefled, the world would be continue 
ally involved in a ftate of anarchy and 
confufion. When there exifled but a 
few fimple fliepherds difperfed here and 
there, and who knew no other interefl 
or care but that of tending their flocks, 
the natural law fufficed ; but fince peo¬ 
ple began to bnild and inhabit cities, 
fince the earth has been divided into 
kingdoms, provinces, and private pof- 

feflions. 




Teffioiis, the neceflity of laws and regu-- 
lations to provide for the wants and to 
preferve order in fociety, became indif- 
penfable. Thofe laws though human, 
yet having a connexion with the Divine 
will, and emanating from the natural 
law, which the Almighty has implanted 
in the bread of every man, (hould be 
confidered as facred obligations, which 
it would be criminal to* violate or in¬ 
fringe. Seeing the encroachments that 
Vice is making daily on the confcience, 
Reafon with great judice applauds the 
cxidence and the vigorous execution of 
the laws. They are her protedion and 
her fupport; it is from them fhe derives 
that authority which enables her to pre¬ 
vent or to punilh diforders. Difference 
of climate or of government, may give 
room to different laws and regulations, 
but their principle and objed is the 
public Good. In the midd of fo many 
jarring paffions which are fo eafily en- 
flamed, and caufe fuch dreadful con¬ 
flagrations, how uncertain and precari¬ 
ous would be the tenure of life or pro¬ 
perty, 


I 10 


perty, if Reafon had not iffued her >< 
edidbs, and armed magiftrates with i 
power to ftem the torrent of.vice, and. ^ 
oppofe the progrefs of injuftice,. all ^ 
would become the prey of the moft pow-.. i 
erful and rapacious plunderer.. To the } 
difgrace of human nature, it mud be ' 
acknowledged that the brute creation il 
feem to (hew much more wifdom in-fol-. 
lowing their, inftinft: this, however, i 
proves in man the liberty of doing Good i 
or Evil j which liberty,, though often 
fatal in its effeds,. diftinguifhes us from 
the beafl; and affords us the opportunity 
of meriting,. 

It was by the light of Reafon that: 
legiflators difcovered and framed thole 
laws which they have trapfmitted to us, 
it was Reafon pointed out to them the 
abufes they ought to reform, the ret 
wards and punifhments they fhould de¬ 
cree. If. the laws were only the mere 
effedl of caprice, or of tyranny, (as cer¬ 
tain dangerous writers pretend) they 
would have changed with the falhions.; 

one; 



411 


one and the fame generation would fee 
them expire apd revive. Whatever is 
connedled with the eifence of things, is 
always lading; now the laws are-con^ 
nedled with us and we with them, and 
it is this mutual bond that unites us to 
God and to. the different orders of Soci¬ 
ety ; a bond w^hicb is diffolved only by 
death, at that laft moment when we are 
to return to him who formed us,, and 
who then, no longer communicating his 
will to us through intermediate agents, 
becomes himfelf our h.egillator and our 
Judge. 

The natural law which is comprifed 
in ten principal commandments, has a 
thoufand ramifications, from which all 
other laws are derived. All are not capa¬ 
ble of difcovering this connexion ; but 
thofc who are acquainted with all the 
different relations, who penetrate into 
future events, and by deducing confe- 
quence from confequence, defcend into 
the mofl minute detail, and trace effe6ls 
to their firft caufes, they can perceive 

that 


112 


that the moft fimple regulation has i ^ 
reference to the divine precepts. Thti 
intimate communication that fubfifts be« 
tween God and man, is what gives to 
the laws all their force and efficacy. 
All power is derived from God, and wc 
are bound to fubmit to all legiflativel 
authority in man, as being fan£lioned byl 
God himfelf j except in the cafe where! 
fanaticifm or impiety ffiould order any ! 
thing contrary to religion or juftice ; for ; 
then fuch an order,, far from being aj 
law, would in reality, be an infradion. 
of it y hence Reafon which enjoins fub-- 
miffion to all lawful authority, would in- 
fuch cafe, dired us to difobey, and hence 
the Apoftle prefcribes a rational obedience* . 

Alas! what, would become of the 
laws, or the neceffity of making law^s, if; 
a hateful tyranny could compel us to. 
commit evil. Government was efta- 
bliffied to encourage us to, Good, 
either by threatening punifhments, or 
promifing rewards. But if unfortu-- 
nately, the contrary ffiould happen, wc 

ought 




! 

I ottght not to hefitate to facrifice our 
j lives rather than fubmit; thus the 
, T-heban Band, when the Emperor Max- 
minus commanded them l!o exterminate 
the chriftians, laid down their arms, 
and fell vidims to the Tyrant’s fury, 
in order to become the Glory and Tri¬ 
umph of the caufe of truth and juhice. 

The more numerous the laws and 
regulations of a country, and the more 
vigoroufly they are executed, the more 
free and fecure is the virtuous man. 
The good citizen dreads nothing but 
plunder and diforder, becaufe his Reafon 
tells him that all is fafe, where all is well 
regulated. People hate the light only 
when they act wrong; and hence we 
find that they revolt againfl: the facred 
laws and ordinances of Religion, merely 
becaufe they wiHi to live without re- 
ftraint, without fhame or remorfe, and 
perhaps without honefty. AH thofe 
infamous writings that have appeared’ 
againft Chriftianity and againft all lawful 
government, are but fo many ftrata- 

gems 




gems to prepare the minds of men to^ 
fhake off the yoke of virtue, and to ha¬ 
bituate them* infenfibl.y to vice and 
fraud.- 

In order to be more clearly convinced 
of the wifdom and the neceffity of laws, 
it would he advifable to read the Trea-? 
tifeof St. Thomas on that article ; what 
he has written on that fubje£i: is fo folid 
and. methodical, that Grotius recom-^ 
mends it to a German Prince as a moft 
excellent work. It is well known Gro¬ 
tius was a proteftant, and confequently 
bis teftimony cannot be fufpeded of 
prejudice j.but Reafon alone is fufficient 
if we confult her, fhe loves and admires 
order, and. recommends patience and 
docility to all, as the fure means of ren¬ 
dering us wife and happy. 


r: ■ 


CHAPTER 


CHAPTER IX. 


•JV THE USE OF riTE SCIENCES. 


IF the Sciences had not been fufFered 
to degenerate by the abufe of thofe who 
make them fubfervient to their paffions 
and identify them as it were with their 
prejudices, they would become an addi¬ 
tional light joined with that of Reafon. 
What more wonderful, than to fee men 
by the aid of fcience, penetrating into the 
bowels of the earth, analifing metals, 
pointing out the courfe of the ftars and 
telling their different revolutions, fub^? 
jeding fhadow, which is nothing but a 
privation of light, to mark the hours 5 
defeding bodies and determining their 
different properties, launching into im-t 
menfity, converfing with celeftial fpirits, 
reafoiiing on the immortality of the 

foul. 


116 

foul, and on the nature of GodI 
himfelf i 

How delightful it Is to behold fcience* 
in the poffelTion of an Auguftine ! what 
penetration ! what fubliniity ! it is an 
emanation of light that returns to its 
fource, a fire that confumes and devours 
the paflions, a living water that fprings- 
up to eternal life, a fweet perfume that^ 
exhales its odour to God alone,, a thun¬ 
der-bolt that burfts forth in the midfl of 
lightning. You little diminutive mor¬ 
tals ! who wifh to make a monopoly of 
this fcience, and to difpofe of it at your 
will, who qiake itferve as a nutriment 
to feed your vanity and your pride^ 
ought you not blufh to disfigure thus 
the beauty of eternal wifdom and truth,, 
and to fquander away thofe treafures 
which were only intruded to you in 
order that you might admire and im*- 
prove them? in what a poor and abjed 
date mud the fciences appear when fub- 
jeded to your caprice, to your paflions. 
and your prejudices! Reafon fhudders 

at 





117 


at the recolledion of the fcandals and 
the evils refulting from your ftudies and 
your knowledge, or rather from your 
ignorance mafked under the vain appear¬ 
ance or pompous fhow of philofophy. It 
is to be lamented that the world fhould 
be the dupe of fuch impofture; by the 
.fafcinating charms and feducing orna¬ 
ments of ftyle, you may perhaps ftrike, 
aftonifh and dazzle the eyes of fuperfi- 
.-cial readers; but how long can fuch a 
vvertigo difturb Reafon ? the delirium is 
foon over, and the foul which you 
;wiflied to annihilate, revives and refumes 
>her rights. The time may come, and 
perhaps is not far diRant, when thofe 
.who appear to hold the key of fcience, 
who decide fo dogmatically and ufurp 
the praife and admiration of the world, 
will fall into diforedit and juft contempt. 
Are thefe, (people will then fay) the 
.vain boafters who affumed infallibility 
to themfelveSj though they denied it to 
the Church.? they have pafted away, 
their produ<S;ions were but the reveries 
jof mad-men. The fciences then are va¬ 
luable 


] iS 

luable only in as much as the ufe we 
make of them is reafonable and lawful, 
or, more properly fpeaking, they have 
no real exiflence but in contributing to 
promote the caufe of Religion and the 
good of Society. Would to Heaven 
that people rightly underftood thefe 
truths! they would not be fo prodigal 
in bellowing their incenfe and enco¬ 
miums on many who make but a vain 
and barren difplay of knowledge: but 
it is fufficient at the prefent day to pof- 
fefs a fluency of fine words, and to 
aflTume an impofing tone, in order to 
obtain the fulfrages of the public, what¬ 
ever paradoxes or extravagant fyftems 
one may advance ; fo true it is that fin- 
gularity is fure to pleafe, and that falhi- 
on fways the world. 

Thus it happens that the fciences 
which ought to be the confolation and 
fupport of Reafon, are often the caufe 
of her humiliation and her downfall ^ 
the prefent age feems in this particular 
far to exceed all the preceding ones: 

our 


our libraries are To many witnelTes that 
atteft this melancholy truth, in review¬ 
ing them, what a motley colledlion 
will you find of impious and immoral 
productions ? what a multitude of books 
in which Reafon is degraded, Virtue ri¬ 
diculed, and Religion infulted ! it is a 
»Tare fcience now to know the good au¬ 
thors, and a great merit to efteem 
,them. 

An exceflive avidity to read every 
‘thing has been productive of the worfl: 
eifeCtSo Gne of the wifeft petitions we 
could addrefs to God would be to be- 
feech him to deliver iis from an iniino- 
^tlcrate thirfi; of knowledge: our mind 
like the fea has its boundaries; if it 
^exceed its limits, it ftrays and is loft. 
-It is only by attending to Reafon that 
we direct the fciences agreeably to the 
intention of him from whom they ema- 
mate, and that we difcover in their fub- 
limity the fubject of our humiliation. 
^Reafon every moment feels her own 
fweaknefs and infufficiency, and it is in 
coiifequence 


120 


confequence of feeling it, that fhe looks 
with pity and contempt on thofe arro¬ 
gant and prefumptuQus fpirits, who ima¬ 
gine theinfelves capable of comprehend¬ 
ing and explaining every thing. All the 
fciences will have an end, Charity alone 
will fubfdt for ever j for we were not 
created to be aftronomers or mathema¬ 
ticians, but to merit by a good and vir¬ 
tuous life, an infinite reward here¬ 
after. 

The fciences are to be efteemed only 
in as much as they ferve to engage our 
attention, to detach us from the plea- 
fures or rather the follies of the world, 
and afford us the means of being ufeful 
to mankind, they help moreover to fami- 
liarife us with truth, on which they are 
founded ; and this is a moil confoling 
rehedion: fludy ought to appear infi- 
pid, when it has no ether objed but felf- 
love or vain curiofity. 

This is the language of Reafon, which 
reproves and condemns all thofe who 

pretend 




121 


pretend to fcience, but who do not ex¬ 
tend their obfervations beyond this Uni- 
verfe: as the foul has an idea of what 
is eternal and infinite, it naturally defires 
that our fludies Ihould be no lefs con¬ 
fined, and always confiders itfelf in a 
retrograde dire6l:ion,unlefs when advanc¬ 
ing towards the Supreme Being, of whom 
it is the mofi;^ lively exprefiion. This 
perhaps might be the proper place to 
afiign to each fcience its different rank, 
according to its utility ; but as every one 
is apt to boafi; of the fciences he has ac¬ 
quired, in order to avoid all difpute, it 
may fuffice to fay in general, that the 
ftudy of morality, including metaphi- 
fics and theology, as alfo the knowledge 
of medicine, joined with experimental 
pliilofophy, ought to have the pre-emi¬ 
nence. As we have nothing here below 
but our fouls and bodies to take care of, 
thefe are the peculiar fciences that pro¬ 
cure us the means of knowing and go¬ 
verning them, according to their refpec- 
G tive 




122 


tive wants, their deftinatlon, and the i 
order of Providence. 

When the Apoftle faid, that Science ■ 
pufFeth up, and Charity edifieth, he al- | 
luded only to the bad ufe that is too ! 
generally made of fcience: for who | 
was better qualified to fpeak of | 
it, than he, who befides his fuper- j' 
■natural lights, was furrounded with ji 
Greeks and Romans, whofe eloquence : 
and philofophy turned entirely on error, i 
and whofe only object was vain glory 
and offentation ? happily for us the in- l| 
trodu£lion of Chriflianity has fandified i 
the ufe of fcience ; we ad contrary both i 
to Religion and to Reafon, if the end 
of our fludies be to gratify pride or cu- ’ 
riofity. As long as we are guided by ^ 
Reafon, we will only wifh to acquire \ 
that knowledge, which will teach us to ! 
live beuer; and even, thofe fludies, which 
ve apply to for our amufement, will 
become ufeful ; they will ferve as a re¬ 
laxation, and prepare us for meditation 
^nd labour : thus when we ad like rea- 

fonable 





123 


fonable Beings, we find an advantage 
in our very recreations. The other ani¬ 
mals have no need to ftudy or to learn, 
becaufe their inftindl direfts them in¬ 
fallibly in whatever is^neceflary for their 
deftination; whereas man was created 
to extend and improve his knowledge, 
to aim at the perfection of his being, and 
in feme meafure to govern this Univerfe. 
The faculties of the foul are gradually 
developed, it acquires new lights, which 
elevate and fpiritualife our nature. It 
was for this end Colleges were efta- 
blifhed ; for to confider them in any 
other light, would betray an ignorance 
of their inftitution; it was judged ne- 
cefiary that there fhould be in all great 
Cities a conflant fource of learning, in 
order to give youth an opportunity to 
apply to ftudy, to open their minds, to 
form their hearts, and to qualify them 
to fill the refpeClive ftations, for which 
Providence had deftihed them. 


G 2 


CHAPTEPv 




124 


CHAPTER X. 


ON THE LOFE OF ONE*S COUNTET* 


HE quality of Citizen is fo dear and 
valuable a title, that our divine Legifla- 
tor himfelf has honoured it by (bedding 
tears over the ungrateful country that 
gave him birth ; he expreflfes his tender- 
nefs and concern for his unhappy 
countrymen, by the fimilitude of a 
hen anxiouily gathering her chickens 
under her wings ; he bewails, in the 
mofl pathetic terms, the dreadful 
calamities they are about to draw on 
themfelves, through their obduracy and 
blindnefs: Jerufal-m, Jerufalem, ex¬ 
claims he, didd thou but know in this 
4 hy day, that is, whilll it is yet time, 
the woeful evils that impend thee ! he 
commanded his difciples not to preach 
his Gofpel to other countries^ until his 


own 


125 

own fhould rejeS: it. We love, fays an 
antient writer, the very walls of our 
City : indeed the place where we drew 
our firfl: breath, fhould feein to us, as it 
were, a confecrated fpot, that recalls us 
continually to ourfelves, and awakens 
all our feelings. At the fight of it, we 
feeni to be born again, it renews all the 
fcenes of our pafl life, revives the re¬ 
membrance of the pure and innocent 
pleafures of our infant days, and affords 
a fatisfaQion to the -mind, that cannot 
be expreffed : thus the mother of St. 
Chryfoffome, feeing he was determined 
to quit, her and retire into the defart, 
could not find any means fo effedually 
to prevail on him to remain with her, 
as to fliew him the Bed in which he was 
born: no fooner did he behold it than 
he burff into tears, and conceived fo 
great an affection for the houfe of his 
birth, that he forthwith renounced all 
thoughts of forfaking it. What a pow¬ 
erful impreffion did the words of Corio- 
lanus’s mother make on him, when fhe 
reprefented to him the atrocity of turn¬ 
ing 


126 

ing his arms againft Rome, his native 
Country. 

Our Reafon, no doubt, tells us that 
we Ihould look upon the whole earth as 
a place of exile, and reconcile ourfelves 
to refide wherever Providence may ap¬ 
point ; at the fame time, it infpires us 
with a particular propenfity and attach¬ 
ment to that place, which has been our 
nurfery and our cradle. Its climate, its 
diet, its manners and, even, its prejudices 
are more congenial to our temper and 
conflitution, every country has fome 
peculiar difh or ragout, for which the 
natives have a fingular liking, though 
perhaps it be not the bed: the fame 
may be faid with refped to ufages and 
' cudoms. There is a fort of national 
fpirit, that is difcoverable, even, to the 
third or fourth generation, in thofe 
who have been tranfplanted to another 
country *, it is as it were a tade of the 
foil, like that which is found in exotic 
plants. 


The 


The love of our country being fo in¬ 
timately conneded with the foul, an ex¬ 
traordinary revolution muft have taken 
place in our heads and our hearts, 
whereas this patriotic fpirit feems now 
almoft entirely exlinguilhed. The con- 
tradled and mercenary paffion of felf- 
interefl: has fucceeded in place of thofe 
refined and noble fentiments, that gene¬ 
rous enthufiafm, which diftinguifhed 
our fore-fathers and obtained for them 
the glorious titles of heroes, of faviours 
and guardians of their country. When 
men fliako off the yoke of Religion, 
every other tie is infenfibly dilTolved; 
how can it be expected that they will ac¬ 
knowledge their native country, when 
they make it a merit to difown the 
Church, which at their birth received 
them into her bofom, enrolled their 
names in her annals, and procures them 
fuch ineftimable advantages. A total 
indifference or repugnance to fludy and 
induftry, ail exceffive love of fenfual 
pleafures, the confined and bad educa¬ 
tion parents give their children, that 

cruel 


cruel infenfibility which fome of the 
great ones alFed towards the wretched 
and diftrefled, their unwillingnefs to re¬ 
trench their unbounded luxury, in order 
to fupply the wants of the date, are con¬ 
vincing proofs of the little aftedlion 
people now bear for their country. How 
many who enter the army or embrace 
other profeffions, and acquit themfelves 
badly of their duties, becaufe tliey love 
themfelves more than the hate; how 
many who bury their talents, and do 
not rePiedb that their country has a jull 
claim to all their exertions, how many 
who continue all their lives in a flate of 
Celebacy, though not from a love of 
conlinency, and affedl not to know’, that 
marriage is the refource of the Hate, 
and the general vocation of mankind. 

Were wt to take a review of all the 
different Hates and conditions of life, sve 
fhould find that the good of the commu¬ 
nity is but little attended to, the genera¬ 
lity of people feem to confidcr it as a 
mere chimera, though each individual 
• forms 


forrriv^ a part of it. The great think 
only of aggrandifing themfelves, and 
the rich of adding to their riches ; the 
military man is wholly intent on his 
promotion, and increafe of pay ; the 
lawyer endeavours to make the moil he 
can of his client, by prolonging and 
multiplying law fuits ; the ecclefiaflic is 
indefatigable in feeking preferment in 
the Church, in heaping Benefice upon 
Benefice, and engrofling to himfelf 
what would be fufficient for the fupporc 
of tw^enty others, who perhaps are far 
fuperior to him in virtue and talents, 
and who are left to pine in obfcurity 
and want: the merchant avails himfelf 
of every advantage, to enhance the* 
price of his goods ; the fliock-jobber and 
difcounter employs illicit and ufurious 
means, to extort from thofe who are 
under the neceffity of applying to them j 
in the lower orders you difcover nothing - 
but petty frauds and impofition ; it is 
thus the country is impoveriCied and 
weakened. 

G 5 Shall- 


150 

Shall the Romans, then, be the only 
people who had a true love of their 
country, and who juftly merited the title 
of Citizens. What zeal! what courage ! 
what ardor did they not difplay for the 
publicgood! totallyinfenfibletothcirown 
private intereft, they forgot themfelves 
and their families, when their country 
called on them to facrifice their repofe 
and even their lives in her defence, they 
have been feen even, to immolate their 
own children, fooner than endanger the 
fafety of the flate, by tolerating in them 
a violation of its rigid difcipline, de¬ 
claring in the face of the Univerfe, that 
they knew no kindred fo dear to them 
as their Republic which they idolized. 

There is no man of exalted fentiments 
who mufl; not feel how ‘‘ Sweet and 
Glorious it is to die for one's country'* 
The names of thofe who diftinguifhed 
themfelves in defence of their native 
land, have been preferved and rendered 
illuftrious; this was the firft origin of 
Nobility, Men have in all times 

tached 


tached the greateft marks of honor to 
the glory of ferving the ftate. All 
thofe titles, orders and armorial bear¬ 
ings were inftituted merely as diftinc- 
tive marks of merit and valour,/and we 
fhould blufh at poflefTing them, if we 
have not the fpirit to emulate the virtues 
of our anceftors ; in reality our condi¬ 
tion is much inferior to that of the Bee 
and the Silk Worm, (thofe ufeful infers 
that help to fupply our wants, and afford 
us inftrudive leffons) if we are fo un* 
fortunate as to live only for ourfelves. 

The mofl brilliant a6lions are not 
always thofe th^t are mofl meritorious, 
or ufeful to the community, there are 
many obfcure Citizens entirely unknown 
to the world, who in their humble ’ fla- 
tion contribute to ferve and inflrudt 
mankind, and form projeds which are 
adopted by miniflers of flate. Thus 
the fmalleft fprings often fet in motion, 
the mofl cumbrous machines. We owe 
refpedl, obedience and love to that 
country which gave birth to us, and to 

our 


our anceftors. We honour humanity 
in honouring our native land; almofl: 
every great City, whether antient or 
modern, is decorated with ftatues which 
reprefent the friends of mankind: this 
is the title that an author, diflinguifhed 
for his patriotifm, has given to an excel¬ 
lent work which he publifhed ; and this 
title we alfo fhall merit, if, free from 
fraud, from ambition and pride, we 
confecrate our talents and our labours 
to the ^ory of our country, and the 
advancement of the public good ; but 
when will this happy time arrive ? 


CHAPTER 


^33 


CHAPTER XL 

ON THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORLD. 


It is not in an over refined politenefs, 
nor in ftudied difcourfes, nor in affedled 
manners that the knowledge of life, or 
a proper demeanor confifls. Reafon 
laments thefe airs, thefe tones, thefe 
quaint expreflions, which our people of 
fafhion feem to confider a^ the criterion 
of tafte, and the moft agreeable orna¬ 
ments in the polite circles: if the mind 
were always in perfe 61 : unifon with the 
heart, it would, no doubt, contribute 
much to the advantage of the foul; and 
a becoming decency of behaviour, 
which may be called the polifh of fo- 
ciety, would no longer appear to be the 
effect of caprice or of art: there ought 
to be a eertain degree of candour in our 

manners 



»34 


manners, which fhould influence our 
whole condud through life. 

Many among the great render them- 
felves contemptible, by affe^ling a lan¬ 
guage of court, entirely different from 
their manner of thinking. They ima¬ 
gine that bows and fcrapes and a certain 
phrafeology exempt them from the ne- 
ceflity of being fociable or generous, 
and that they confer a great obligation, 
when they deign to notice you. An 
eafy and free deportment, however fome 
may endeavour to ridicule and defpife it, 
will always gain the applaufe of the Mul¬ 
titude. A foul that unbofoms itfelf, an 
affable character and an infinuating 
mind, are the only fure and effedual 
means of winning people’s hearts, and 
none but thofe who reduce thefe rules 
to prafiice, can ever rightly fucceed, 
were they minifters or ainbaffadors. 
One may eafily fee into a myfterious 
affedation ; we are immediately on our 
guard againfl furprize, when we meet a 
perfon who, to ufe the expreffion, is 
imprudently 


*35 

imprudently difcreet. Reafon, which 
Ihould always prefide over our tongues 
and our eyes, requires that our convert 
fation fhould be tempered with fweet- 
nefs, without being infipid or difgufting, 
that our looks fhould preferve a becom¬ 
ing dignity, without haughtinefs, that 
our carriage llrould be noble and grace¬ 
ful, without affedlation. When one has 
ihefe exterior accomplilhments, all that 
remains then, is to watch and feize the 
proper occafions of doing every thing in 
feafon. Nothing can be more ridiculous 
and more unbecoming than to fpeak, 
when one ought to remain filent. The 
experience of the world teaches the ne- 
celTity of according with thofe, with 
whom we live. Wit is difpenfed with, 
provided we are complaifant and con- 
defeending : we cannot, then, really be 
faid to know life, unlefs we know how 
to feear reflraint and, even, what may be 
irkfome and difpleafing. 

Thofe men of plcafure, who fly from 
circle to circle, and who love to cull, as 

it 


it were, the quintefcence of fociety and 
wit, are far from having the manners 
that true politenefs requires ; they affe6l 
to appear- amiable, yet no one likes 
them ; they wifli to be confidered plea^ 
fing and agreeable, though they have 
nothing agreeable or pleafing to recom¬ 
mend them. All confifts in being affable 
and obliging, and in keeping ourfelves on 
a level with thofe we converfe with. It is 
not by fettingup for men of wit and talents 
that we are to expe£l to be confidered 
as fuch,but in making the wit of others 
appear to advantage: we cannot with 
impunity ingrofs the converfation to 
ourfelves ; felf-love revolts at it, and 
people are often aftonifhed to find, that 
they have made enemies of thofe, 
whom they expeded to have for ad¬ 
mirers. Reafon will inform us, that 
without being too diffident, we fhould 
communicate Our fentiments with re¬ 
fer ve, that we fhould ftudy the diffe¬ 
rent charaders, that we fhould know 
how to fuffer, as it were, a temporary 
eclipfe, in order to fhine afterwards 
with a greater luftre. We mufi: not 

however 



137 

however conclude from all this, that we 
are to wait to be prefled to join in con- 
verfation, as fome require to be entreat¬ 
ed and folicited a long time, before they 
can be prevailed on to fing : it is only 
meant, that we fliould wait our turn, 
and allow others ihe opportunity and 
fatisfadion of fliewdng their wit, 

Politenefs varies according to places 
and circumftances, the manners of a 
courtier would not become a fimple 
citizen, thofe of a merchant are not the 
fame as tht^fe of a man of quality : all 
thefe different fliades are eafily dif- 
tinguifhed by one, who is thoroughly ac¬ 
quainted with the world. Were young 
people to embark later into life, they 
would be better enabled to learn its 
ufages and manners ; but they are fre¬ 
quently introduced into company, at an 
age, when every thing is permitted them, 
which occafions ftrange abufes; they 
will neither liflen,. nor bear to be con- 
troled. A certain fpirit of independence, 
impatient of all reflraint, has univer- 

fally 



138 

fally prevalledj which feems to take a? ■ 
pride in rejecting indifcriminately all ef~ j 
tablifhed cuftoms. The foi^ no longer.; 
refpeds the father, the wife pays no, 
attention to her hufband,. fervants difre^ > 
gard their mafters, the ties of fociety. 
on the point of being diflblved, are only, 
kept together by a paflion for gambling,, i 
The different circles prefent to the eyes - 
of ^the Sage nothing but ridiculous 
and affeded manners, and adulterated- ! 
morals. True and genuine politenefs, or. j 
areal knowledgeof the world, announces? i 
itfelf under a very different appearance, . ! 
it carries with it its letters of recom-« | 
mendation, it interefts, it pleafes ; it\l 
neither difplays the pride of riches, ther 
levity of foppery, nor the ridiculous 
airs of affedlation and vanity ; it makes- 
itfelf all to all, and leaves every one at 
his eafe. It criticifes with delicacy, .mo-, 
ralifes without pedantry, and even in 
joking preferves a becoming dignity. 

The beft proof that our politenefs is 
conformable to Reafon, is when it forces 

applaufe: 





139 > 


applaufe: things muft flow natu¬ 
rally from their fourte, in order to be 
efteemed ; the man, who is endowed by 
nature with a gentle and candid difpofi- 
tion, will pleafe much more in company 
than he, whofe manners are fludied. 
There are no general rules to be given 
for converfation : fome people fpeak too 
much, in fpeaking but little, there are 
others, you would never be tired lift^n- 
ing to ; fome pleafe in difeourfmg on 
common fubjecls, whereas others dif- 
guft you with their lofty fpeeches. 
Perfans who compofe ferious v/orks are 
often infipid and mere children in con-^ 
verfation : whether it be, that they do 
not wifh to take the trouble to raife 
themfelves to the pitch, their reputation 
announces, or that their fpirits have been 
too much exhauiled by ftudy, and that 
they wifli to diftrad their attention and 
divert it with trifles, they feldom appear 
to much advantage : it mufl; alfo be ac¬ 
knowledged that people in the world 
imagine, that an author fhould always 
fpeak like a book; but fhould it not 

rather 




140 


rather be expelled, that thofe who re- j 
ferve all their wit for converfatioii, 
fliould be the inoft interefting in com¬ 
pany. 

Reafon continually fuggefts to us the 
moft admirable inflriuflions with refpe(5l 
to our converfation, our writing and 
our ailing : if we would carefully attend 
to them, our letters would perhaps be 
lefs eloquent, but they would be more fin- 
cere ; our difcourfe would be lefs ftudied,. 
but more perfuafive; our adions lefs 
brilliant, but more deliberate ; in ufing 
lefs art, we would learn to hear, and to 
be heard. 

The true knowledge of life confifls in 
the knowledge of pleafing; but we 
lltould be well perfuaded, that the way to 
pleafe is not to wifii to appear too polite. 
Thofe perfons who always afiei^ a foft 
and fweet manner of fpeaking, who are 
continually paying compliments, who 
make a fimple vifit a bufinefs of great 
confeqnence, who fpend their days in 

palling: 




palling encomiums, in returning thanks 
and making apologies, are always dif« 
gulling and infipid ; and fuch manners, 
far from proving a good heart, rather 
indicate a timid and groveling foul. 

There is another Indifcretion to be 
obferved in the intercourfe of the world, 
that of giving advice upon every occa- 
fion, whether right or wrong, under 
pretence of friendfliip. Such fond ad- 
vifers render themfelves odious, and 
whatever liking one might have had for 
them, is focn changed into indifference, 
if not into down-right hatred. This 
defect is the more to be dreaded and 
guarded againll, as, by wilhing to 
reprove, one is apt to contradl a habit 
of never fpcaking but to give le6lures. 
fVe often fee the 7nQte in our brother s eye, 
Mtid do not perceive the beam in our own. 
Befides is it not unreafonable to exped 
that others Ihould conform to our whims, 
or to whatever notions we form of 
things ? Oftentimes what might be im¬ 
puted to us as a want of politenefs, may 

not 



142 


not to another, who is fuppofed to be 
more engaged in bufinefs, or who is 
known to be more liable to diftradion : 
for inftance, a man of ftudy is not cen- 
fured for being abfent at times ; and if 
it were lawful to diffemble, he ought 
even to alfed it, in order to get rid of 
many ufelefs ceremonies and grimaces. 

That kind of independent fpirit, which 
' proceeds from levity or libertinifm, is 
odious in fociety ; but the independence 
of ah immortal foul, which, by its appli¬ 
cation, and greatnefs rifes fuperior to a 
thoufand little infignificant cuftoms, is 
to be admired and praifed. Vifits, falu- 
tations and compliments are requifite; 
but we fhould comply with them as rati¬ 
onal beings, who would be afliamed to 
place our exiftence in fuch trifles. If 
we do not make a referve of at lead two 
thirds of ourfelves and of our time for 
refledion and ufeful employment, we 
are much to he pitied. What fort of a 
life is that of merely getting up, and 
going to bed ! and yet fuch is the life 

that 




U3 

that a confiderable part of mankind 
lead; between morning and night, 
there is nothing but a great void, which 
IS not to be conceived in the courfe of 
a rational life. How long will people 
^continue this kind of non-exiftence,? 


^CHAPTER XIL 


THE contempt: 01 INJURIES* 


Weak mortals are fo fallible in their 
judgments ; reputation is a thing fo 
arbitrary, and calumny fo common, 
that we ihould be almoft infenfible to 
whatever good or ill may be faid of us. 
That which neither encreafes nor dimi- 
niflies our being, and leaves us in a 
.word, juft fuch as we are, Ihould not, 

in 





144 


in any manner, affed us. Now does 
either praife or difpraife take away one 
line from our ftature, or add one to it ? 
does it alter one feature of our counte- 
tenance, or one degree of our under- 
ftanciing ? it is only the notion we form 
of it to ourfelves, that rejoices or afflidls 
us; but is this notion conformable 
either to Reafon or Religion ? 

Do they not teach us, that we fhould 
accomplilh the law, only with a view to 
God ? that though we had done all the 
good imaginable, we would be ftill, but 
unprofitable lervants, that there is no 
virtue we can call out own, becaufe 
every good gift defcends from the 
Father of Lights, that the mofl brilliant 
talents are often the means of ruining 
us Vvith more Eclat, that men of the 
greatell genius are frequently 4hofe, who 
fall into the greatefl; errors, and that 
thofe who praife, are either aduated by 
felLlove, which feels a gratification in 
praifmg men of merit, or find it their 
interefl to flatter thofe in office ? 

Moreover 


145 


Moreover is it not the fpirit of party, 
that blind and fanatical fpirit, that is 
always prodigal of praife or calumny ? 
what a fine principle ! what a fine fource 
is this to make an impreflion on a rati¬ 
onal being ! One fhould rather lament 
the errors, the prejudices, the paradoxes 
of mankind, than be affiided or puffed 
up by their applaufe or their cenfure. 

1 could wifii that every one who is 
attacked by libels, would a£l like the 
Emperor Theodofius, who, on hearing 
that fome perfon had infulted and abufed 
his ftatue, laid his hand coolly on his 
face, and faid, that has done me no harm. i 
1 could wilh, that like Csefar, people 
would only know how to forget inju¬ 
ries : or rather I could wifli that follow¬ 
ing the example of true Chriffians, they 
would love their enemies, and difarni 
their malice, only by filence and meek- 
nefs. 

If we reafon rightly, we lhall undoubt¬ 
edly find that we are, for the moft part, 
the framers of our own uneafinefs and 
H misfortunes^ 


146 


misfortunes. We wifh to anfweV thbfe 
who criticife or calumniate us, and 
thereby we only add fuel to their envy 
and fury. Ah ! why not rather imitate 
the mofl: illuftrious perfonages who have 
been calumniated ; (for but few of them 
have efcaped perfecufion) they fhewed 
not the lead: uneafinefs or concern. 
Cardinal Bellarmin, being informed that 
his morals had been traduced in a libel, 
which had been induflrioufly circulated, 
only fmiled, at the fame time lamenting 
the calumniator, and defpifing the ca¬ 
lumny. Cardinal Berule, hearing that 
an infamous and virulent fatyr had made 
it’s appearance, exhibiting him to public 
view as a Heretic, a Deift and Libertine, 
did not difcover the lead emotion. The 
Abbe de Ranee, that illuftriousPeni tent, 
offered up the Sacrifice of the Mafs 
for thofe, who publifhed againfl Iiim the \ 
mod grofs and abufive libels, many of ! 
which bad been fent him. The Mar- \ 
t^uis Maffei had the courage to didri- 1 


bute, with his own hands, a work in? 




mod 



*47 


moft atrocious manner ; Pope Benedid 
the fourteenth wrote to him, on that 
occafion, a congratulatory letter, which 
begins with thefe remarkable words: 

it would not be in my power, though 
even I fhould wifh, to doubt of your 
bein^ a great man, fince 1 fee that envy 
perfecutes you, and attacks even your 
Religion and your Morals.” What 
horrid calumnies have fiot rage and 
malice thrown out againft the ortho¬ 
doxy of the famous Muratori, and 
againft the morals of the illuftrious Fe- 
nelon, and with what patience did they 
not beat it ? 

1 know very well, that if libels are the 
pfodu^ftion of dark and envious fouls, 
people of little minds, v/ho form by 
much the greateft number, read and be* 
lieve them. But is it not from men of 
good fenfe, we are to hope for juftice, 
fuppoftng we have not Chriftianity 
enough to expe£t it from God alone ? 
and does not Reafon teach us to diftin- 
- guifha libel from a work did:ated by 
. H 2 truth ? 


148 


truth ? it is a ftrange thing, fays Bayle, 
(precifely on the article of Bellarmin,) 
that among fo many who were feized 
with the frightful itch for writing fatyrs, 
we find fo few, who knew the art ofpoi- 
foning them. The moft of thofe 
wretched fcribblers, who meddle in it, 
not aware, that in order to fucceed, they 
ought to conceal their malignant paflion, 
and avoid every appearance of animo- 
fity ; otherwife their fatyr has a retroac¬ 
tive effect. Our indignation is raifed 
againft the libel, and^ our attachment 
encreafes the more for the perfon who 
is accufed or calumniated. Such has 
been the eflfeft produced by thefe works 
of darknefs, publifhed againft Religion 
and againft God iiimfelf, which, for 
upwards of half a century back, have 
infeded the world ; my hand refufes to 
trace thofe horrors, which ought to be 
buried in oblivion, together with theij; | 
authors. 

Ah ! if unhappily there are ftill men ^ 
to be found fo extravagant and impious, 


149 


as to refufe the Meflias the quality of 
the Son of God, and to treat as an im- 
pofture his Gofpel, which is truth itfelf, 
it is not furely aftonifhing, that through 
fpite and envy, they fliould attack the 
birth or reputation of private indivi¬ 
duals ; but inftead of being grieved at 
their calumnies and invedlives, we fhould 
arm ourfelves with courage, and reflect 
that this life is only a feries of injuftice 
and mifery. One cannot poifefs merit 
or fame with impunity. There are none 
but fools, faid the Cardinal de Riche¬ 
lieu, that no one fpeaks ill of. It would 
be truly a deplorable cafe, if it depended 
on a common adventurer to determine 
the degree of efteem or contempt each 
perfon is entitled to. The fentence even 
of a court of judicature would be invalid, 
if it emanated only from one perfon, 
and yet a judge in his official capacity 
deferves furely much more credit than 
one,jWho writes or fpeaks without being 
fandlioned. It would be neceffiary, more¬ 
over, to enquire into the character and 
refpedability of a writer, who deals in 

invedives. 


150 

inve£lives, though, indeed, a work ol 
that kind is a flrong prefumption againft 
its author. An honeft man, far from 
being guilty of calumny, knows not 
even how to detract. Such are the 
lelTons Reafon teaches us, but alas! 
how few attend to them ! 

The Scripture in telling us not to 
praife any man until after his death, 
fhews clearly what little value we Ihould 
fet upon the opinions and encomiums 
of the world, both becaufe they have 
generally intereft and flattery for their 
motive, and becaufe they are apt to cor¬ 
rupt the heart. Let us open to our view 
the immenfe career of eternity, and we 
will think but little of men, or their 
judgments, we will be afhamed even to 
let them affedl us ; the true Chriftian 
Philofopher ads as if there was only 
God and him;'’elf in the world ; he pays 
lefs attention to praife or difpraife than 
to the humming of Bees; he is ever 
careful in preferving his confcience un- 
fpotted, never to give any caufe of 

fcandal, 



fcandal, and if he receive an injury, he 
leaves to God the care of avenging it. 
He knows that according to the dodrine 
of the Gofpel, he ought to rejoice when 
calumniated and perfecuted, and he 
really does rejoice at it. 

The gfeat BofTuet, that illuftrious 
Prelate, who was accufed by his enemies, 
of being married, made this wife obfer- 
vation, that it would be dangerous for 
men who are held in high repute, to 
hear nothing but their praifes founded ; 
that God generally permits them to be 
attacked by fatyrs and calumnies, which 
ferve as a counterpoife» Hence it hap¬ 
pens, that thofe who have been diftin- 
guiflied for their abilities, have two re¬ 
putations, and people fpe ik of them, 
according as they are affected. They 
are praifed by fome, and cenfured by 
others, and the more merit they poffefs, 
the more they excite envy. This bar¬ 
barous perfecution, I own, would almoff 
give a difguff for the love of virtue; 
but we fiiould confider, that it is for 

God 


152 


God we are to be virtuous, and not 
for a perverfe world, which feems to 
delight in condemning the mofl holy 
and laudable adions, and would wilh 
to conceal that glorious fpedacle of a 
foul without blemifli ; it would fain re- 
prefent every one unjuft and depraved, 
becaufe it is unjuft and depraved itfelf— 
the wicked attribute to others all the 
crimes they are guilty of themfelves. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


ON rHE LOVE OF PEACE. 


We cannot charaderize peace better, 
than by calling her the Daughter of 
Reafon: refledion prevents the fatal 
effeds of anger, and renders us peace¬ 
able. Who is the man who after hav¬ 
ing examined himfelf, will be fo rafli 


as 



^53 


as to prefer the tumult of the world, 
or the ftorin of the paflions to the fatis- 
fadbion of being at peace with himfelf, 
and with his neighbour ? we cannot 
tafte the fweets and tranquillity of life 
but in being mild and patient. The 
foul muft enjoy a perfed calm, in order 
to be at liberty to contemplate herfelf in 
God, and to learn the extent of her 
hopes and her duties. Thofe turbulent 
fpirits that are always in a (late of agi¬ 
tation, tend only to deftroy the har¬ 
mony and peace of fociety. 

There is a kind of indolence, which 
is fometimes miftaken for a love of 
peace ; but Reafon foon points out the 
difference. It belongs only to huma¬ 
nity to eflablifli that happy concord, 
that fliould reign among mankind. And 
what infpires tliis humanity but ferious 
reflection on ourfelves, a knowledge of 
our^true interefts and our w^ants, aiid a 
defire of happinefs ? 

H 5 


Nothing 


^54 

Nothing IS more defl:ru6live of the 
love of peace than a four humour, th-e 
effervefcence of the blood, and the 
refinement of pride ; thefe are the fatal 
fources from which originate difputes, 
hatred, revenge, injurious language 
and contempt: but Reafon, if we would 
only liften to her advice, would cure 
us of thefe defeds, or would enable us, 
at leaft, to reftrain them. Is it not to- 
her we are indebted for the bonds of 
fociety, the union of minds, politenefs, 
complaifance and attention ? fhe does 
not, indeed, infpire fympathy, for we 
have it independent of all refledion y 
but fhe engages mankind to deal wdth 
each other as if they were brethren. 

The primitive Chriflians had but one 
heart and one foul, becaufe they were 
the moll reafonable perfons that ever 
exifted ; every thing was confident in 
their belief, in their adions and in their 
thoughts. What a wide difference 
between their condud and that of thei 
prefent race of men, who live at ran-1 

dom^ 



^55 

do;ii, or refled, only to fret and torment 
themfelves. Their fantaftkal humour, 
their felf-fufliciency, their clifTipation, 
their lull render them unfit for friend- 
fhip or fociety ; if people vifit each other, 
it is neither from affedion, nor from a 
fenfe of duty, but for want of employ¬ 
ment, with a view to intcrefl:, or in 
order to kill tim^. What mean thofe 
wars, thofe duels, which {lain the earth 
with human gore, thofe law-fuits in 
families equally ruinous and dlfgraceful 5 
thofe religious feuds, thofe literary con- 
tefls, the offspring of pride and envy ? 
alas! do they not announce the total 
extindion of Reafon ? a fhadow of 
common fenfe would be fufficient to 
fhew the extravagance, as well as the 
barbarity of cutting each others throats, 
and waging war for years together, 
unlefs when fcif-dtfence requires it j it 
would ihew' the injuflice of keeping Tip 
religious perfecuticn and aniniofity, 
from a fpirit of intolletance, fo abfo- 
iutely contrary to the meek fpiVit of 
tjie Gofpel ; it would expofe, in fine,. 


156 

the folly of authors making a (liew of 
themfelves to the eyes of the ignorant^ 
who laugh at the writings and the 
writers, and, indeed, often with juf- 
tice. What frightful fcenes of horror, 
of violence and confufion does the world 
exhibit! what frenzy, what irreconci¬ 
lable hatred and divifions! the hufband 
at variance with the wife, the brother 
pleading againfl the filler, the fon 
againll the father, nothing but difcord 
and diflention throughout all orders of 
-fociety. The demon of riches feizes 
on the minds of men, and tranfports^ 
them with rage. There is no bafenefs 
or turpitude that is not expofed, no 
Hratagem that is not devifed, no art or 
meannefs they do not defcend to, in 
order to gain their ends. The Courts 
of law' continually ring with the moll 
atrocious accufations, with the recital of 
the mod horrid and infamous tranfac- 
tions. After all this, can we pretend 
to tlie title of rational beings, and call 
- ourfelves ciifciples of him, who recom¬ 
mends to give up even our coat, if 

they 




^57 


they take our cloak, that is to furrender 
our right, rather than violate Charity 
by contentions and difputcs, and who^ 
bids us not to be anxious or felicitous 
about the morrow.. 

Happy the friend of peace 1 ever 
guided by Reafon, which is grieved to 
fee men a prey to thefe frightful paffions 
of vengeance and avarice ^ he finds 
within himfelf the nioR powerful mo- 
tives to maintain a good under (landing, 
with all people, he conforms himfelf to- 
the different perfons, ages and charac¬ 
ters, his countenance is always open 
and ferene, he only wifhes for an oppor¬ 
tunity to fhew that his only gratifica¬ 
tion and delight, is to ferve and oblige 
others. His converfation is infinuating 
and perfuafive, his manners noble and: 
engaging, in his proceedings he is adive 
and officious, but cool and deliberate^. 
You difeover in his looks a goodnefs 
and kindnefs that charm you. Should 
any difpute or difeord arife among 
friends, he interpofes his mediation, 

and 


and pacifies their minds. At one time 
animated and zealous, at another time 
tranquil and compofed, but always af¬ 
fable and free, he makes friends of all » 
thofe he converfes with,.or endeavours, | 
at leafl:, to gain their confidence. The I 
proud man efteems him, becaufe he i; 
knows hcKV to yield; the ambitious ‘ 
man loves him, becaufe he has no pre- ^ 
tenfions; the turbulent man bears with 
him, becaufe he has always a command 
of himfelf; the mifanthropifi: defires his 
company, becaufe he entertains and 
cheers him ; the man who is fond of ! 
difputing, liftens to him, becaufe he 
never contradi(fls ; in fine, he contrives t 
to bring other men’s pafiions on the ; 
fame level or tone with his own, or j 
rather to imprefs on them a moderation, ! 
which is produ(^ive of the mod happy i 
efteds. What a contrail between this ! 
friend of peace and that fire-brand, who ! 
infinuates himfelf into-families, in order 
to fow dilTention, by fpreading falfe 
reports, to raile jealoufy and millrull, - 
who forms intimacies in order to betray. I 

The- 




^59 



! that difpels the leafl mift, the other is a 
tempeft, that fcatters around darknefs 
and alarms. Yet how many choleric 
and turbulent men,, in comparifon to 
thofe of a mild and placid difpofition ! 
who take umbrage at the leaft word, 
or even gefture: demand vengeance* 
for the fmalleft offence or the flighted 
indifcretion ; who challenge, fight and 
are killed for the meered trifle, as if 
there was queftion of the conqueft of 
the Univerfe- 

Ah ! would they but give themfelves 
time to refled: on the bleffing, of peace,, 
and the many, advantages it procures, 
they would conceive a horror and de- 
teflation for intrigues, cabals,, falfe 
reports, and whatever elfe may diflurb 
their repofe and impair their health. 
Sicknefs often proceeds from the blood 
and the humours being inflamed by 
anger. He who knows how to enjoy* 
and poffefs hiinfelf, always preferves a 
perfed calm and ferenity of mind, he 

keeps 



■I^o 

keeps his paflions and his fenfes under 
fuch fubje^lion, that without being 
overftrained or afFeded, he announces 
himfelf with a graceful air, and never 
advances any thing, that is not replete 
with Reafon, and blended with mild- 
nefs. 

All wifh for peace and confider it 
as the fource of the wealth and prof- 
perity of Nations, as the bond that 
unites and conneds families together, 
and as the moft ufeful and agreeable 
ornament of^fociety. The tradefman. 
fings when he enjoys peace, the huf- 
bandman cheerfully endures his toil, 
while he peaceably fows and reaps : in 
a word, deprive the world of peace,, 
and the whole earth becomes like Courts, 
the refidence of intrigues, cabal and 
envy. At the birth of our Saviour, 
peace was announced by Angels, as the 
moft precious gift of Heaven; it 
was the legacy which Chrift bequeath¬ 
ed ro his difciples, as the certain 
pledge of his love; not the falfe 

peace 





I6I 

peace of the world, which intoxicates 
the fenfes, extinguiflies Rekfon, and 
paralifes the Soul. The peace of Heaven, 
the only true and folid peace, has for 
its bafts the perfect harmony between 
foul and body, between Reafon and 
faith, and a good underftanding between 
ourfelves and others : and yet how few 
feek to procure it. If the imagination 
is fuffered to ftray, if the thoughts and 
deftres have not a reafonable objed, 
adieu to peace, man becomes the fport 
of his own and of other men’s paiiions* 

St. Paul exhorts us to endeavour, by 
every means poflible, to be in peace 
with all men. There are indeed fome 
charaders fo difficult and intractable 
that you cannot appaife them ; in fuch 
circumftances Reafon recommends ft- 
lence : if we confult her, ihe will point 
out to us that proper medium of neither 
carrying complaifance too far, nor of 
failing in the duties of Charity. What 
a peculiar happinefs it is to poflefs a 
great foul, that is fuperior to all 

events j 



i 62 


events; this, indeed, is a kind of philo- 
fophy that is not much in vogue, yet it 
is that alone, which can render us truely i 
happy. 

The learned Monf. Nicole has conv 
pofed an excellent treatife on the means 
of preferving peace with all men ; we 
fhould read it, if we wifh to underftand 
the language of Reafon j it will teach 
us, that it is only by patience, meeknefs 
and humility, that we can learn the art 
of acquiring, and conftantly enjoying 
tranquillity ; this art is the more necef- 
fary, as, by giving way to the firft emo¬ 
tions of palfion, we become bad fathers, 
bad hufbands, and bad mailers. The 
erodes and contradidions of the world 
will throw us into perpetual broils, 
unlefs we continually endeavour to re- 
ftrain our anger and gain a complete . 
maftery over ourfelves. One pays dear¬ 
ly for falling into paffions, it does not 
remedy the evils we complain of, and 
we become a torment to ourfelves and 

fcourge to others. The friend of ^ 

peace i 




163 

peace neither difturbs or frets himfelf, 
nor wifhes to caufe uneafmefs to others, 
by indifcreetly mentioning unfavour¬ 
able reports. He is fenfible, that in 
; order to live peaceably, we fhould not 
know what people fay of us, nor fhould 
we inform our friends of what malice or 
envy may report of them. Solitude 
is favourable to peace, we ought to 
cherifh if, if we wifh to enjoy repofe: 
the firfl moments are painful, it is 
true, but they are foon changed into 
delights, which ravifli the foul, and 
elevate it to God. 


CHAPTER 



164 


CHAPTER XIV. 

' 

eN rHE MEANS OF BEING HAPPY. 

How many different ideas does the If 
word happinefs raife in the mind! 
though it ought to be fimple, and pre- 
fent but one and the fame obje^l to all, 
it multiplies itfelf like a prifmatical glafs, 
into as many forts of happinefs as there 
are different tafles. The mifer conceives 
no one happy but the man who is con¬ 
tinually hoarding up 5 the fpend-thrift 
places happinefs in extravagance and 
diffipation, the ambitious man in afpir- 
ing and attaining to honours. It would 
feem as if happinefs were a thing purely 
arbitrary, and that exifted only in the | 
imagination. 

It is true, our felicity very much 
depends upon our manner of perceiv- i 

ing,, 



ing, but independant of our perceptions, 
there is a real happinefs, which, deriving 
its fource from the eternal, immutable 
I and Sovereign Good, can be no other 
j than God himfelf. In vain do we at- 
! tempt to ftray from him, every thing 
recalls us to him, notwithflanding all 
our amufements and entertainments, 
notwithflanding our riches, honors, and 
all the enjoyments of this life, we flill 
' feel, that there exifls another fort of 
happinefs, different from thofe frivolous 
advantages *, for they are not capable of 
fatisfying the heart. This, moreover, is 
confirmed by the idea we conceive of 
the Divinity, that is, of a Being, who 
alone polfelfes in himfelf wherewith to 
fill the immenfe capacity of an immor¬ 
tal fubflance. Our Soul pants after 
eternal poffeflions: we only afBid and 
degrade her, when we confine her to 
other objects. 

Even in the midft of diffipation and 
diforder, Reafon prefents to our eyes 
a ray of that effential and primitive 

Beauty, 




i66 


Beauty, which we would difcover 
more clearly than the Light of the 
Sun, if we would but ferioufly re¬ 
fled:. That irkfomenefs, thofe dif- 
gufts which we experience, thofe con- 
tradidions and affronts, which mortify 
our pride, thofe unquenchable defires, 
which are continually reviving, are not 
the mere effed of chance, nor of incon- 
ftancy, but the language of Reafon, 
that fpeaks within us, in order to detach 
us from our pleafures and enjoyments, 
and to bring us back to God. She 
ftudies our charader, our temper and 
our inclinations, and when flie finds a 
favourable opportunity of imbittering 
our joys, flte renders this life infuppor- 
table, and makes us neceffarily wifh 
for the life to come, i know that with¬ 
out an extraordinary grace, fhe will not 
be able to triumph over our follies and | 
our paffions ; but Reafon itfelf, then i 
becomes a preparatory grace, which 
difpofes us to receive more vidorious 
ones. 

Would 



' 167 

Would we but duly attend to the dic¬ 
tates of Reafon, all our days would be 
a regular fucceffion of reflections ; each 
event would open to us a career, in 
! which our foul would difcover the in- 
I defedtible light ; we would learn to ana¬ 
lyze riches and honors, to (trip them 
of that falfe fplendor that dazzles our 
fight, and conceals from us their 
nothingnefs. Our pafljons and our 
fenfes apply, as it were, a varnifh to this 
-world, that prevents us from knowing 
it r what is only a fpeCtre, appears to 
us under the inofl: feducing form; 
what flings us, feems to carefs, what 
debafes, feems to elevate us. Hence 
arifes that criminal impetuofity, with 
which men abandon themfelves inconfi- 
derately to the mofl: dangerous objeCls, 
hence this deafnefs, that prevents them 
from liflening to Reafon, or acknow¬ 
ledging her empire. 

The Almighty in creating us (for we 
fhould always afeend to the firfl prin¬ 
ciples) has infpired us with the defire 

of 



i68 


of happinefs, and has furniflied us wkh 
the means of attaining it. Thefe means, 
which appear fo very difficult and re¬ 
mote, are to be found within ourfelves : 
it is a fort of natural arithmetic, which 
enables us, as far as we wifh, to calcu¬ 
late all the goods of which we have 
any idea, and to fum up and eftimatc 
their value. By this operation we may 
learn what to determine on with ref- 
ped to happinefs; for, in order to be 
happy, we muft account with ourfelves 
for the amount of our felicity: we 
begin by dividing, or taking afunder 
fortune and greatnefs, which are confi- 
dered and coveted by all, as the greatefl 
good, and, after having placed on one 
fide, the dangers, the weakneffes, the 
prejudices, the embarraffments, that in¬ 
separably attend them, in a word, their 
vanity, their flavery, their frailty and 
uncertainty, we find but a vapour that 
vaniffies as it rifes. We may fay the 
fame with regard to birth and high fta- 
lion, and even, with regard to know¬ 
ledge : all thefe advantages thrown into 

the 




169 

the crufible of Reafon, are immediately 
diffolved and loofe all their luftre. 
Were men to apply themfelves to this 
kind of chimiftry, rather than the feek- 
ing of the art of making gold, (which if 
difcovered would be the greateft mif- 
fortune to the world) they, furely, would 
not be tempted to believe, that the Uni- 
verfe is capable of contenting a foul, 
which is greater than all poflible 
worlds. 

V/hat powerful refources we find in 
ourfelves againll afilidllons and adver- 
.fity, when we know how to found or 
eKamiiie ourfelves! He who enjoys 
perfect health, confiders himfelf happy, 
when he refleds on thofe who are con- 
.fined to a bed of Xicknefs; he who 
enjoys his liberty, calls an eye on thofe 
who are confined in prifons and dun¬ 
geons, and feels himfelf content with 
his lot» 

Every thing in this life is relative, 
:and it is only by comparing and calcu- 
I lating. 



170 


lating, that we can know and enjoy 
happinefs. There are certain degrees of 
pleafure, as well as of pain for all men, 
and they will be found, upon examina¬ 
tion, to be nearly equal. The poor 
man, it is true, is deftitute of every 
thing, but he often thinks better than 
the rich man who poflefles all 5 thofe 
who are afflided with ficknefs, fufFer 
from the infirmity of the body, but 
they look to another life for that ap¬ 
proaching confolation, which thofe, who 
are in health, have not; the tradefman 
lives in obfcurity, but he feels himfelf 
fuperior to the great, by the elevation 
of his fentiments, like Diogenes, who 
prefej-ed his Tub to the Throne of 
Alexander. We have a fource of hopes, 
and even of illufions, which form here 
below part of our happinefs. If then, 
we borrow our ideas of happinefs from 
the refledions that Reafon fuggefis, we 
ihail infallibly render ourfelves content' 
and happy : whatever calamity may befall 
us, we will confider it as a cloud that 
paffes, or as a dream that vanifhes with 

fleep. 


lleep. Moreover, m how many different 
ways does the imagination aflift us ? 
but unfortunately, we often employ it 
againfl ourfelves, by anticipating forrow 
and misfortunes, even when every thing 
appears favourable and profperous. 
Qne defire is fcarcely gratified, when 
we wifli to content another, the difap- 
pointinent of fatisfying but one, is 
fufficient to difcourage and dejedt us* 
In reality, we are unhappy only becaufe 
we wifli to be fo : in order to fecure 
our happinefs, we fliould avoid hurry 
of bufinefs, law-fuits and embarraf- 
ments, yet we are fond of them : we 
fliould fly courts and intrigues, yet we 
anxioufly feek them ; we fliould wean 
ourfelves from feiifual pleafures, which 
caufe fuch anguilh and remorfe, yet we 
idolize them ; we fliould place a dif- 
tance between the world and our foul, 
yet we, as it were, identify them; we 
fliould be conflant in the pradice of 
virtile, and irrevocably attached to that 
Being, who is infinitely good, and is 
liable to no change or viciflitude, yet 
1 2 we 


172 


,we are continually ftriving to keep at a ■ 
diflance from him ; we fliould lay down j 
for ourlelves, a regular plan of life, a 
fyftem of happinefs independent of i 
card-parties, plays, .or entertainments, j 
yet we live at random, abandoning our- 
felves and our time to the whirlwind ! 
of the world ; we . fliould refped and i 
confult pur Reafon, we fhould ever \ 
be guided by its counfels ; yet we i 
fcarcely know what Reafon is, or even | 
if it ^xifts) we fliould only efteem what i 
is immortal, yet we love nothing, but j 
fafliions, vanity and deception j in ■ 
order to be content with our fituatioii 
in life, we ought to compare .our condi¬ 
tion with that of the poor, who pine ; 
in mifery and want, who fiifter every ! 
hardfhip and diflrefs, who eat their j 
bread with the fweat of their brow, ’ 
and who have not whereon to repofe 
• their liead; but we only look to the 
rich, to their pleafures and amufe- 
ments. their fpleiidid retinue, their 
fuperb and magnificent buildings ; in a 
word, we fliould be patient, and arm 

ourfclves 



173 


ourfelves with courage againft all dif- 
afters, yet by our pufilianhnity and 
weaknefs, we fiiik under the lead afflic¬ 
tion. Patience is a gift of Heaven, 
infinitely more precious than any trea- 
fure, without it no one can be happy. 

It is not then in gold, in rank, for¬ 
tune or favour that happinefs confifis, 
nay they are rather an obftacle to it. 
The great ones enjoy all thele advan¬ 
tages, and yet their life often becomes 
irkfome to them: the more one is in¬ 
cumbered with thofe ext'erior goods, 
the more is Reafon ftraitened and con- 
tradicled ; let libertines fay what they 
Will, it is Reafon alone, that points 
out the true road to happinefs ; did it 
confifl in a life of difflpation, that con¬ 
tinually diftrads the mind, and pre¬ 
vents it from attending to itfelf or to 
God y it would undoubtedly be a cruel 
puniniment to relied. But what fort 
of a life is that of afoul, delivered up 
to the violence and impetuofity of the 
paffions ? there is no real happinefs, 

bu^ 



J74 


but that which we cannot loofe; but 

ll 

the pallions are fubje( 5 l to decay. The^ 
philofopher Bias exprefled his felicity, 
by glorying that he carried his all 
along with him; for, our manner of 
perceiving and thinking, cannot be 
taken from us; all then that is necef- 
fary to make us happy, is to perceive 
and to think well. The man who is 
bent down to the earth, to pick up ' 
diamonds or gold, can have no preten- 
fions to happinefs j unlefs the foul 
exalt herfelf, and rife fuperior to the f 
higheft fortune, the imagination flrays, j 
the ideas are confufed, the thoughts } 
confounded, the defires materialifed ; f 
we become a prey to anxiety and dif- j 
gufl:. This is what Reafon tells us, and i 
what experience proves. Enter into i 
thofevafl: and {lately palaces refplendent | 
with gold and marble, view thofe I 
mighty men of fortune, whom adula- | 
tion deifies, wdio fee even the greatefl 
crouching at their feet: and after you 
have well confidered them, withdraw, 
and hefitate not boldly to pronounce that 

the 



175 


they are the moft unhappy of men, 
unlefs they, have Religion for the objeft 
of thefr hope and their fupport, and 
you will affirm the truth. I was one 
day converfing with a Spaniard, who at 
the age of 33 had made the tour of the 
world, I alked him, which of all the 
Sovereigns, or the different perfons he 
had feeQ, in the courfe of his travels, 
he would rather be, in order to enjoy 
happinefs ; a good Chrijiian^ replied he : 
admirable refledion ! it is neither that 
of an idiot, nor of a fanatic, but of a 
Sage, who knows the nature of the foul, 
who knows that chriftianity is our only 
fare refource in all occurrences, in all 
our perplexities and trials, of what 
kind fo ever they may be. Place a 
man in the moft critical circumftan- 
ces, let him be afflided with the great- 
eft calamities, with the moft unfpre- 
feen misfortunes, and let him recur 
to the Gofpel, he will there be fure 
to find a remedy for his pain ; for God 
who is every where, and is all pow¬ 
erful, can himfelf fupply the want 

of 



176 

of every thing elfe. Woe to him, who 
refts for his fupport on an arm of flefh 1 . 
place not your confidence, nor your 1 
happinefs in the prinres of the earth ; , 
how could they render you happy, 1 
fince they are far from being happy 
themfelves ? 

What an abundant fcurce of happi- 
nefs for a foul that believes fii inly the 
truths of Religion, and applying itfelf 
to the meditation of the pialins, reads 
therein, that the juft fhall never be 
abandoned ; that the defires of the 
wicked fhall perifti ; that the calum- 
nfator fhall be confounded ; that God 
will quickly avenge the caufe of the 
widow and the orphan ; that it is better 
to be the laft in his Koufe,, than the 
firft in the palaces of kings; that he 
hears and fees every thing, whereas it 
was he, who formed the eye and the 
car ; that in the Sun he has pitched his 
tabernacle; that he knows the number 
of the ftars, and calls them all by their 
names, that he made the night and 

the 



177 

the aurora, that his providence fupports 
and preferves the world. Thefe, we 
mufl: confefs, are fublime and magnifi* 
cent ideas, whoever does not feel their 
beauty and energy, muft be whblly igno¬ 
rant of true felicity and true greatnefs. 
But the four cannot relifh them, but 
by making them her'food, and prefer- 
ing them to all the pleafures and 
holnors of the Uriiverfe. ’ 


CIMPTER XV. 


ON rHE DANGERS OF INCREDULITT. 


The unbeliever without principle 
during life, and without refoiirce at 
the hour 6f death, is opening for him- 
felf a gulph every ftep betakes. His 
whole being, which was created for God, 
I s changes 





changes, In fome manner, its nature and 
becomes a prey to error and frequently 
to vice. The man who is deftitute of 
Religion, is likewife void of Reafon, 
wandering here and there in the midO; 
of an Univerfe, of which he perceives 
neither the caufe, nor the firft mover, 
in the midfl of different kinds of wor- 
ihip, among which he cannot difcerii 
the true one, he knows not whether 
to believe or to doubt ; whether to 
fear or to hope ; unacquainted with his 
foul, which he does not diflinguifh, 
and with his body, which he knows 
not, he believes that matter is capable 
of thinking, and that his thoughts are 
the mere efFe< 51 : of the bile or of the 
blood. 

All mankind are but mere automa¬ 
tons in the eyes of the unbeliever, and 
confequently it would not be a greater 
crime to deftroy them, than to difmount 
the fprings of a watcli, or to kill a 
dog. Thus the bonds of fociety, of 
friendfliip, and even confanguinity, 

will 


179 


will be confidered only as puerlities or 
mere matters of ceremony ; the difte- 
rent forms of government, as the'work 
of ignorance and fuperftition; people 
will neither fear nor obey the laws, 
but merely through a dread of the pu- 
nilhments they inflict. Great God 1 what 
horrid confequences! Reafon fhudders 
at the thought of them, yet they natu¬ 
rally flow from the fyflem of incredulity, 
a fyftem that confifts in admitting only 
a God, who is deaf and blind, or at moft, 
totally indifferent to all that happens 
here below a fyflem that acknowledges 
neither foul nor immortality ; a fyflem 
that makes a jefl of Religion, and con- 
fiders it as a mere invention of policy 
and fuperflition ; a fyflem, in fine, that 
believes thofe only reafonable, who be¬ 
lieve nothing. 

Let us proceed farther, and fee what 
will become of vice and virtue under 
this deflrudive fyflem. Alas! incon¬ 
tinence or chaflity, intemperance or 
fobriety, avarice or generofity, will be 

reputed 


reputed merely the efFed of conftltutioa 
and temper ; it will be the fame thing 
to fleal a hundred guineas, or to beftow 
them. If, indeed, we only acknow¬ 
ledge a God, who abandons the world 
entirely to itfelf, who neither rewards 
nor punilhes ; if man has no other foul 
but the circulation of the blood, or the 
elafticity of the nerves,, (which muft 
ceafe) the difference between vice and 
virtue, can be but a filly prejudice, and 
men may feoff at probity and wifdom„ 
when they can do it without rifking 
their honor or their life. 

It is true, thofe impious men, fright¬ 
ened at the dreadful confequences of 
this abominable dodrine, endeavour to 
palliate it, by telling you that honefly 
is independent of all Creeds and of all 
Religions. But what do they mean by 
honefly ? it is evident that they know 
no other, than that which is neceffary 
to fereen them from the vengeance of 
the laws ; in fad, they make no fcriiple 
of being fornicators, adulterers, and 

frequently 


frequently calumniators and drunkards, 
refraining only, from murder or rob- 
bery ; hence we may conclude, that they 
would not flop at committing even 
thefe crimes, as well as every other, 
were it not from a dread of the feve- 
rity of the law in punilhing robbers 
and murderers. If once a man can be 
perfuaded, that all dies with him, 
nothing but fear alone can make him 
honeft, or elfe he is not confident with 
himfelf. Moreover, this probity of 
which they fo fondly boaft, being ma¬ 
terial, like their thoughts, is confe- 
quently, no more to be refpeded, than 
the wheel or the hand of a watch. 
Reafon mud be grievoufly afflidted at 
the fight of fuch enormities : in what 
cruel bondage is (he held, when in the 
cudody of an unbeliever ! he confounds 
her, that is eternal, with the chyle or 
the excrements; he fmothers her, that 
is the organ of God himfelf, and lidens 
only to his padions; and yet, he cites 
her upon every occadon, not conddering, 
that die inwardly combats his fophifms, 

and 


i 82 


and is the mofl powerful fupport of 
Religion. But it is time now to unde¬ 
ceive thee, O blind and wretched man ! 
thou (halt find in thyfelf the molt ter¬ 
rible argument againll thy paradoxes. 
What then! Reafon condemns thee, 
fhe cries out againft thy injuflice, ^fhe 
demands vengeance of thee, for forc¬ 
ing her to fpeak according to thy pre¬ 
judices, and thou wilt not hear her. 
Stop ; thy caufe is already judged ; 
thou defervefl no other title than that 
of a fenfelefs dotard. 

Men, at lead, ought to go all-fours 
like the beads of the held, when they 
thus renounce their Reafon ; for one is 
really adonifhed to fee a being with a 
human diape doubt of the fird truths ; 
yet fuch is the extravagance of unbe¬ 
lievers, they reject the mod generally 
received opinions, in order to advance 
withgut proofs, and without experience, 
the mod drange and mondrous abfur- 
dities ; and as M. de Beaumont, Arch- 
bifliop of Paris, admirably obferves, 

in 


in a paftoral mandate, worthy to be 
handed down to pofterity : ‘‘ with an 
extreme facility to adopt a multitude 
of the mofl: extravagant hypothefes, 

I they join an almoft invincible repug¬ 
nance to fubmit to the dogmas of Reli¬ 
gion. They are credulous to an excefs 
in admitting frivolous relations, that 
may afford them fome contemptible 
objeQions againft the Gofpeland they 
refufe the moff evident and fenfible de- 
monftrations of the fa<ffs of revelation. 
They are eternally boafting of probity, 
moderation, humanity and beneficence ; 
and by endeavouring to overturn the 
principles of Religion, they are fapping 
the foundation of all thefe virtues. 
They cry out againfi: thofe barbarous 
' times, when philofophy contented itfelf 
with vague terms without ideas, with 
expreffions without an object; and they 
admit fyftems in which the wildeft chi¬ 
meras are fubftituted, in place of the 
moff inconteftable truths. Jncredulity 
then is only a chain of precipices ;Jn 
riling out of one, you fall into another. 

Can 





Can there be a greater misfortune than' 
to deny the Creator who made uS, or t"^ 
form to ourfelves fuch an idea of him, a^ 
ilrips him of his moft glorious and eflen^ 
tial attributes. The unbeliever inter? 
rupts this admirable commerce whicl?, 
fhould fubfift between God and Man.--? 
We are, then, but weak defolate beings? 
deprived of all means bf confolation ini 
our misfortunes, or of any hope of a bet4 
ter life, fhould we be mifefable in thisj 
The prayers that the poor addrefs toHeaJ 
ven, are impotent and ufelels ; and every^ 
defire of eternity is but the effed of a 
heated imagination. O rage ! O def? 
pair ! come and take pofleflion of me, if 
this dodrine be true j I can no longer en¬ 
dure ; the world how appears to me as a 
frightful defart, and my fatal exiftence- 
as a cruel gift. ^ 

But the unbeliever is not only guilty! 
of the moft atrocious of crimes againft 
God, and againft himfelf; he is alfo a' 
declared enemy againft the ftate , his 
pernicious writings and difeourfes di- 






I 185 

reQly tend to fubvert the order and peace 
.of fociety. He fnatches from the wretch^ 
ed the confolation of hope ; he takes 
from the rulers their authority, and from 
the fubje^l that filial and religious fub- 
miffion to the laws, which fprings from 
the defire of accomplifliing the will of 
God. Nay more, he forms reprobates, 
he-arms them v/ith daggers and with poi- 
fon, to employ them as occafion may 
ferve. Ah ! when people come to fnch 
a pitekof depravity, they fwallow crimes 
like water j the father or the niafter can¬ 
not lleep with fafety under the fame roof 
with his fervant or his child.. 

Such are the dreadful misfortunes that 
Reafon reprefents as the neceflary confe- 
quences of incredulity. . But alas! what 
becomes of the unbeliever when death 
begins to approach with rapid ftrides, 
and comes to execute the order of the 
Almighty? then, ftruck with an addi¬ 
tional blindnefs, which St. Auguftine 
calls the chaflifement of the impious, he 
perfifts in affeaing neither to fear nor to 

hope. 



hope. Ah ! what a horrible ftate ! or, if 
terrified at the fight of his deplorable ! 
condition, he fhoiild make an effort to ; 
return to God ; how will it be polfible 
for him ? fince all the prayers of 
the Church, even the mod confoling, 
which are read for the dying Chriftian, 
depofe againil the unbeliever, who is on 
the point of expiring. The Church be- 
feeches God to fnew mercy to the finner 
who invokes him, as one, whohadbeliev- 
ed and profefied the myflery of the mod 
Holy Trinity, but the unbeliever made it | 
his bufinefs during his whole life, to deny | 
and ridicule it. The Church befeeches |i 
the Lord to pardon a foul that has been Ji 
ranfomed by his blood,but the unbeliever | 
has not ceafed to blafpheme againd the |i 
mydery of our redemption. The Church ^ 
befeeches God to open Heaven in virtue i 
of the merits of Jefus Chrid ; but the | 
unbeliever has always reprefented Chrid i 
as a mere man, whom folly and fuperdi- I 
tion had deified. [ 

Thus the unbeliever, without refource ; 
at the hour of death, and deditute of i 

principle i 



187 

principle during life, fees himfelf fur- 
rounded on all Tides with perils, horror 
. and difmay. He is engaged in the midll: 
of (helves and quick-fands, and at length 
he meets with one, that opens to him the 
(lores of divine vengeance. Senfelefs 
men may confider all this as the effeft of 
panic fear, or mere declamation ; but the 
rational man, who feeks truth, and draws 
it from its fource, will acknowledge the 
reality of thefe misfortunes and (hudder 
at them. ' t 


CHAPTER XVI. 

ON" ‘THE ADVANTAGES OF CHRISriANITY. 

The grandeft and mod beautiful fight 
the world ever exhibited, was undoubt¬ 
edly the eftablilhment of the Chriftian 
Religion. Paganifm loft its idols, phi- 
lofophy was dripped of its fophifms, 

people’s 




i88 


people’s morals^ ’till then, corrupt and ; 
barbarous, became gentle and innocent; i 
Vanity no longer continued to govern ; 
the world, nor fuperftition to di£latc ; 
laws j ambition was no longer the main a 
fpring of men’s actions. Truth in all its r 
luftre, obedience, difintereftednefs and [ 
felf-denial took polTeflion of the hearts t 
and minds of all, and eftablilhed a new 'j 
empire on the ruins of the pafTions and \ 
the fenfes. The Aurora, which each \ 
morning comes to difpel the darknefs in . 
which night envelopes the world, and to ' 
j chore its light, reprefents to us the firft ^ 
dawn of our holy Religion. The clouds : 
of ignorance that overfpread the mind 
were difperfed, doubts ccafed, and man 
enlightened and guided in the paths of 
virtue, advanced rapidly towards the fo- 
vereign Good. It is to Chriftianity we 
are indebted for the knowledge of thefe 
infallible myfteries- that exercife our 
faith, and this luminous morality that 
directs and landifies our adions. It is 
Chriftianity has ennobled, elevated and 
fpiritualifed our nature, fo that we arc no 

longer 


189 

longer thofe carnal men bent down to 
the earth, and confounded with the other 
animals,but fublime, radiant beings, who 
aflert their claim to immortality. 

Here 1 behold Reafon breaking out 
into the moft lively expreflions of grati¬ 
tude and proclaiming aloud, that it is 
only fuice thje birth of Chridianity (he 
has become refpcdable, and has made a 
right ufe of her prerogative. Like the 
fun in his career, Chriftianity has dif- 
pelled the inifts and vapours that obfcur- 
ed Reafon, and enables her to penetrate 
into the fanduary of the mod high ; no 
longer wandering at the wdll of the fenfes 
and deiires, in fearch of a fuperditious 
and arbitrary worfliip, that flatters igno¬ 
rance and.the.paihons,.but firmly lettled 
-in,the knowledge and love of truth, fne 
has perfedly diflinguifhed ^ood fiotn 
evil, and has been enlarged and,elevated 
in proportion as .God has been pleafed to 
manifeibhitpfelf. This contrafl which ap¬ 
pears fo flriking between Reafon plung¬ 
ed into all the horrors.of Idolatry- and 

Reafon 


ipo ' i 

Reafon illumined by the light of Faith, \ 
difcovers at once, the advantages of our ^ 
holy Religion. Man become Chriftian, s 
was refliored to himfelf and to God, and !, 
feemed to partake of the nature of An- ^ 
gels, and to be all on a fudden, a Citizen i 
of Heaven ; his ideas became fublime, j 
his defires heavenly, his fenfes docile, his 
paflions reafonable, and even his body 
has been fpiritualifed by the pradice of . 
mortification, continence and fobriety. 

The true Chriftian is a man of all 
places and of all times, he has neither 
limits nor moments to confine or flop 
him. He enjoys the liberty of the chil¬ 
dren of God j he dreads neither tyrants 
nor adverfity ; he is equally indifferent 
to praife and to contempt ; he efleems 
no greatnefs but that of being immortal j 
he acts when alone, as if he had all man¬ 
kind for witnefs, becaiife he is virtuous 
from principle; he is conflantly employ- I 
ed in ferving and affifting his brethren, ' 
yet confiders himfelf an unprofitable fer- 
vant, he neither eats, drinks iVor breathes 




i 191 

but for the glory of God ; he conceals 
himfelf to do good, as others do, to com¬ 
mit evil, fearing even the fhadow of felf- 
love ; he is a ftranger to contradidion 
and ftrife, to jealoufy and ill-humOur; 
!in a word, true citizen, true parent, true 
friend he appears entirely devoted to 
mankind, yet he is wholly devoted to 
God. Far from being afflided at old 
I age or infirmity, he confiders them as 
the prelude to death, and looks on death 
iitfelf as the dawn of true felicity. 

i 

i 

! Is this the man, who has been formed in 
^ the Capitol or the Areopagus ? have the 
! Greeks and Romans, wonderful as they 
I may appear, ever produced perfonages 
i fd perfed ? the love of a chimerical and 
' vain glory corrupted all their adions, 
their fhameful and criminal abufe of their 
Reafon, in profefTing an extravagant and 
fuperflitious worfliip, clearly fhews, that 
it was referved for the Chriflian Religion 
alone, to enlighten and fatisfy immortal 
fouls. If any doubt ftill remain, let us 
view the portrait of a true Chriflian 

fcetched 





fcetched by a famous author of thefe I 
times, reprefent to yourfelf, fays he, | 
all the duties that can pofTibly be pre-j 
fcribed for the good of fociety, recall to j 
your mind all the principles of juflice, ,* 
fum up, under one idea, all the virtues, j 
you will find all united in the heart of a ! 
good Chrillian. If he be a King, he will I 
govern with wifdom ; if a Judge, he will 
decide with equity ; if a Soldier, he will i 
fight with valour ; if a Father, he will 
command with afiedion ; if a Hufband, 
he >viU love with tendernefs ; if a Friend, j 
he will ferve with difinterefted zeal ; if a ; 
Servant, he will obey with fidelity ; if 
rich, he will give liberally ; if poor, he 
will fulFer without repining ; if high in i 
power and credit, he will employ his in- 
terejfl to afiifl; others; he will pardon of¬ 
fences, and refill: corruption: faithful in | 
his promifes, cautious and circumfpe(S: 
in his conducl: and difcourfe, modell in ' 
profperity, refigned and tranquil 'in ad- 
verfity, patient in fufferiug, he feels only ^jj 
for the fuif.rings of others, honouringi 
merit, even in his enemies, loving good,! 

and^ 



^93 


and condemning evil wherever he meets 
it, fevere when neceffary, mild and affa¬ 
ble i*n feafon, of all thefe virtues he wdll 
poffefs what is folid and true. It is not 
for the fake of the admiration and 
applaufe of men, that he is virtuous, but 
for the fake of him alone, w^ho is the au¬ 
thor of all juftice and of all fan£l;ity.— 
Propofe to him an ad of injuftice, a pre¬ 
varication againft truth or a deviation 
from duty, and you will then fee whe¬ 
ther he is capable of firmnefs and cou¬ 
rage. None but the moft daflardly can 
accufe the true Chriflian of cowardice. 
The evangelical man all in God, and all 
for God, generoully devotes himfelf to 
the fervice of his brethren, nor is he ever 
difheartened either by dangers or diffi¬ 
culties. All nature is not capable of 
ffiaking bis refolntion, or depriving him 
of his vigour: the deflrudion of the 
whole world, far from alarming him, 
would rather be to him a fiibjed of con- 
folation, in the hope of going to enjoy the 
Sovereign Good.’' 


K 


What 


^94 


What have we to add to thefe trarts, 
only to obferve, that thofe impious wri¬ 
ters who dare to afperfe and degrade the 
Chriflian Religion, to reprefent it as 
alienating the mind and enervating the 
heart,.are no better than idiots. What I 
people have ever difplayed more zeal for i 
their country, more valour in the field, j 
more Reafon in their condudl, than the ; 
Chriflians have done ? is it not in the fa- 
cred writings that the true idea of wars 
and of conquerors is to be found ? is it 
not there we behold with admiration the 
courage of a Judas MacchabeuSj of an i 
Eieazar, of a David ? is it not there one 
may learn how to employ open force or 
ftratagem, in order to defeat the enemies 
of the ftate ? is it not there we difcover : 
inftances of a magnanimity that dreads ^ 
neither dangers nor death ? is it not , 
there we read, even of women, fuch as a 
Debora, a Judith and a Jael, w'ho give 
proofs of the greatefl intrepidity ? 

What hiilory can produce fo many real i 
Heroes as that of the Church ? the Em- ; j 

perors | 




^95 


perors, after having been glutted, during 
three centuries, with the blood of the 
Chriflians, were at length driven to de- 
fpair at feeing the courage and conftancy 
of the martyrs. Mothers with their 
children, weak and tender virgins faced 
fire and fword without difmay, and ex¬ 
pired, Tinging hymns of joy, in the midfi: 
of tortures, at the bare recital of which 
nature (hudders. Tertullien, in his apo¬ 
logy for the Chriflians, (whom he men¬ 
tions as crowding the court and filling 
the ranks) defies their adverfaries to 
convi6l them of cowardice or treachery, 
Plyny, though a courtier, writes to 
the Emperor Trajan in favour of the 
Chriflians, and only accufes them of fu- 
perflition. 

But what need have w e to feek in the 
annals of hiflory for tefliinonies in favor 
of Chriflianity, when Reafon, that is ca¬ 
pable of examining, weighing and efli- 
mating its value acknowledges at once 
the fublimity, the grandeur and the ne- 
ceflity of the Chriflian Religion. The 
K 2 true 


true Chrlfiian is interiorly virtuouis, but 
he who is not a Chriftian, is either a hy¬ 
pocrite, or fuperftitious. The threat of 
eternal pimifhment, which it holds out to 
the wicked, far from enervating the mind, 
as its enemies pretend, is the moft pow¬ 
erful incentive to excite mankind to ful¬ 
fil their duties. When we dread a great 
misfortune, don’t we take every precauti¬ 
on to guard againfl it ? and does not re¬ 
ligion denounce punifliment in the next 
life, againfl the foldier who fails in cou¬ 
rage or zeal in the fervice of his country ? 
moreover, what impreflion can the fear 
of death make on men, who confider 
their body as a frail veffel of clay that is 
eafily broken, who defpife the fleeting fi¬ 
gure of this world, and fear only what 
can injure the foul. It is evident then, 
that the true Chriflian cannot be a cow¬ 
ard. If Chriflianity extinguifhed valour, 
the Conflantines, the Charlemagnes, the 
the Conde’s, the Turennes would then, 
have been deflitute of courage, and their 
names fhould be erafed from the lift of 
Heroes. 


It 


197 

It is thus people give into the groflfefl 
errors andabfurdities wheri once they pafs 
the bounds of Reafon and Religion, 
which are both necefl'arily connedled 
with each other. That fpirit of intole¬ 
rance, with which its adverfaries re ■ 
proach Chrihianlty, not interfering witii 
the civil jurifdidion, but relating merely 
to fpiritual matters, cannot, in any man¬ 
ner, injure the date. This very rigorifm, 
with which they charge the Catholic 
Church, for her condemning other Reli¬ 
gions, and which they reprefent as fana- 
ticifm, proves beyond a doubt, that the 
Gofpel is from God, and that it does not 
belong to men to alter or modify its doc¬ 
trine, that this church, in order to main¬ 
tain her ground, has no need of the arts 
and contrivances, which human policy is 
obliged to re-fort to : founded on the- 
exprefs and repeated promifes of Chrift, 
die is convinced of her ownindefedibiliiy, 
and declares all who are feparated from 
her, to be out of the true faith, and con- 
fequently out of the way of falvation, 
(unlefs excufed by invincible ignorance.) 

The 


198 

The Gofperdeclares, that as there is but t 
one God, and one baptifm, fo there i 
is but one true faith ; and that without i 
this true faith, it is impoffible to pleafe > 
God. 

Such are the indudions Reafon draw^ ; 
from this intolerance, which its ad^erfa- 1 
ries objefl to the Catholic Church ; hu¬ 
man policy is not the Religion, which is 
to fave us ; and were we to fpeak con-^ ■ 
formably to the views of this world, we ; 
would prove ourfelves unworthy of being ; 
reckoned among thofe immortal men, to j 
whom -God has promifed another earth 1 
and another Heaven. How Reafon i 
grieves to fee a foul, that was created to i 
enjoy the plentitude of the Divdnity, its i 
element, and its life, forfeit for fonie pal¬ 
try intereft, the immenfe advantages that : 
Religion promifes! What! tho’even, , 
we Ihould fuffer, for her fake, fome tem¬ 
porary lofs, would it not be folly in the 
extreme, to prefer any temporal confide- 
ration or emolument to our eternal weh || 
fare ? this univerfe was not deftined to ^ 

conflitute 



1(9 

conftitute our happii efs nor our lafl end : 
We have not the property, but merely 
the life of it, for a few days ; and not- 
withftanding we think, we fpeak, and we 
a£l:, as if we were only born for this 
wretched life, which fhoivld no more en¬ 
gage our attention than the fight of a 
flower, that blooms and pleafes the eye 
for a moment,^nd withers the next.— 
Eternity will foon commence, and what 
will it then avail a man, to have gained 
the whole world, with all its treafures 
and enjoyments, fliould he be fo unfor¬ 
tunate as to loc^fe his foul.^ Is this mife- 
rable earth to be for ever, fet up in 
competition with Heaven ? the body 
for ever, in oppofition to the mind ? 
and the world to be preferred to the 
Gofpel ? a convincing proof, that man¬ 
kind but little attend to truth, and are 
deaf to the voice of Reafon. They ad, 
as if they were eternal here below, and 
they think, as if they had nothing to ex- 
ped: after this life but annihilation. 


U 


200 


It is a great error to imagine, that 
without religion, a Hate could be happy 
or could even fubfid. One muft be lit¬ 
tle acquainted with the human heart, and 
ilill lefs with the nature of the foul (whofe 
chief and conllant motives of action are I 
fear and love) to fuppofe that Religion is 
not necedary, and that it is only a mere i 
pcjlitical contrivance, which might abfo- x I 
luttdy be difpenfed with. People, rather - 
than bve without any religious worfhip, 
would fly to the woods to confecrate 
trees and convert them into Gods ; and 
thus Idolatry, that is to fay, fuperditioa 
and the barbarous manners of former 
times, would again take place. 

That a whole nation could remain 
Deiits, w’ould be morally iinpcdible. 
This pretended Religion, which is the 
i deftruftion of all others, would be in 
perpetual contradiction with hearts creat¬ 
ed to IcJve, and to manifen; their love ; 
and hence we find no country, where 
Deil'm, fuch as our modern philofophers 
would wifa to introduce, has ever been 

univerfally 



20 


univerfally adopted : the Mufliilman be- 
lieves in a revelation, and admits a wor- 
fhip*. Moreover, how could a fociety of 
Deifts be diftinguifhed, whereas they 
fnew no exterior mark of their belief ? 
they would live in the fame manner as 
Atheifts, or we fliould rather fay, like the 
brute beads. 

But let us for a moment fuppofe, that 
Ghriflianity fliould, all on a fudden, be 
extinguifhed in the world, and that 
mankind, abandoned to their paflions, 
fliould lofe all idea of eternal happinefs 
or mifery ; what could reflrain thdr vici¬ 
ous defires, when they could evade pub* 
lie notice and efcape punifliment ? what 
would prevent them froni robbing, 
poifoning and committing murder ? 
Whoever knows-the powerful afeen- 
dancy of religion over the confcience 
and the hearts of men, would not ven¬ 
ture to intrufl: his purfe, and much lefs 
his life, to a fervant, who would declare 
himfelf an unbeliever. In vain do our 
Deiflical writers pretend, that people 
K 5 would 


'202 


would practice virtue for the mere honor I 
of being virtuous, the notion of virtue i 
detached from Religion, is but a phan¬ 
tom or rather a prejudice. There are 
no true friends, true citizens, nor true i 
heroes to be found but among thofe who 
profefs a Religion, that has for its bafis t 
the immortality of the foul, and who^ 
adore a God, who rewards and punifhes.. 
They may tell us perhaps, that Deifni ' 
does not exclude future rewards or pu- 
nifhments ; if fo, then, let the Deids be 
confident with themfelves ; for they j 
teach, that God makes no account of \ 
our actions, and that no a6l of ours can ;; 
offend him. How, after that, can they f 
fay, they admit an eternity of happinefs 
or mifery ? 

Thefe refleflions are not the refult of 
fubtle or refined metaphifics, nor the 
offspring of fanatacifm ; Reafon alone is 
fufficient to convince us, that there is no 
real probity without Religion, and that 
the Chridian Religion differs widely . 
from all others, whereas it alone, acting I 
immediately 



203 


immediately on the heart, and regulat¬ 
ing the thoughts and defires, renders men 
interiorly honed and virtuous. What 
perfed fecurity would there be in the 
commerce of life, if all were truely 
Chridians! there would then be neither 
lying, nor frauds, nor treachery,, nor 
vengeance; men would carry on their 
dealings with each other without fear, 
uneafmefs or fufpicion. Each perfon 
'having God only in view, and eternity 
for his obje<d, would for confcience fake,, 
be more exa£l and circumfped:, than if 
his condud were expofed to the view of 
the whole world." 

Is it the fault of Chridianity, if men 
immerfed in fledi and blood and blinded 
by their padions, have profaned this fa- 
cred Name, and have made it the indru- 
ment of their hypocricy, their ambition 
and their fury ? It is only what is good,,, 
that is liable to abufe. In order then, to 
form a jiid and true idea of Chridianity, 
we Ihould judge of it, not by the conduid 

of 


204 


of falfe Chriftlans, but by what it pre- i 
fcribes and inculcates^ 

To pardon our enemies, to return good i 
for evil, to pray for thofe who perfecute ; 
and calumniate us, to preferve our morals 
pure and innocent, to refpeci: and obey 
the laws, and thofe who are conflituted 
in power, to renounce our own will, to 
defpife the world and all its fleeting va¬ 
nities, to keep our minds and hearts fix¬ 
ed on Heaven, to adore in all things a 
providence, and to fubmit to all its dif- 
penfations, to watch continually over 
our words, our defires and our thoughts, i] 
to fear God alone, and put all our hope 
in him, are thefe difpofitions that can be - 
hurtful to the flate, or injurious to fo- 
ciety ? Ah ! whoever would prefume > 
to fay fo, muft have loll all idea of Rea- | 
fon and humanicy. ' i 

What tho* fome hypocrites may be I 
found, who wilh to be remarked for ! 
their exterior devotions, or ignorant | 
devotees who imagine there is more I 

merit ? 




205 


merit in complying with certain forms 
or ceremonies, than in the exercife of 
good works, who think that provided 
they carry about them a relick or a Sca¬ 
pular*, their falvation is infured ; but 
laying afide all prejudice or partiality,, 
let me afk, do thefe abufes, however 
blamable and abfurd, endanger in any 
manner, the public fafety. What then, 
if a poor fimple woman fays her beads,, 
or has a particular veneration for the 
image of a faint, is that a matter of great 
confequence to the ftate ? It is undoubt¬ 
edly much more to be feared, that the 
woman, who is without Religion, and 
without modefty, giving way to the vio¬ 
lence of her paffions, may be perverted 
from principle ; for then, becoming a bad 
wife, and a bad mother, fhe will become 
the ruin of her houfe and family, and a 
difgrace to her country. 

It 

* The Author does not here mean to 
condemn thofe pious pradices^ which tend to 
promote devotion^ particularly^ fuch as are 
fandioned by the Church ; he alludes only 
to the abufe of them. 


2o5 


" It is a much lefs evil, fays the famous 
Montefquieu, that people fliould fome- 
times abufe of Religion, than that there 
Ihopld be no Religion among mankind. 
‘‘ Chriftianity, adds the fame author, 
which feems to have no other objed than 
the next life, rei\ders us happy even in 
this. It makes tyrants lefs timid, and 
confequently lefs cruel; in proportion as 
it has fpread itfelf, the feverity of defpo- 
tifin has been mitigated, becaufe that 
meeknefs, which is fo flrenioufly recom- 
mended in the Gofpel, is diredly oppo^ 
fite to tyranny and oppreflion.’’ 

It is thus this-true Philofopher pulve-- 
rifes by his judicious refledions, thofe 
little fophifts, who dare to attack Reli¬ 
gion as contrary to the happinefs and 
profperity of the ftate. But why don^t 
they quit thefe countries, which they fee 
thus infeded with Chriflianity ? then, 
indeed, they would fhew fome confiften- 
cy, in leaving us to enjoy in peace, the 
confolation of the Gofpel, in the hope of 
the ineffable blelfings it promifes us. 

Or 



207 

Or if they think they ought to remaiir? 
among us, in order to enlighten the peo-r 
pie and render them more virtuous, \vc 
would beg leave to alk them, what lights^ 
what virtues they would give them in 
exchange for their Religion, or withi 
what face they can prefume to preach 
againfl: Chriitianity, whilft they them- 
felves accufe the Minifters of the Gofpel, 
aS'enemies of tolerance, and difturbers 
of the peace of fociety. 

Gne error generally leads to another,, 
when once a man quits the path of truth; 
he walks in darknefs and in the midfl; of 
precipices ; he begins by taking a difgufl: 
for certain exercifes of Religion, under 
pretence that they are not elfentiaL he 
afterwards takes it into his head, that 
they border on fuperftition, at length he 
hefitates, he doubts, and ends by railing 
at them, and believing nothing. It is 
the rallery and invedives, and not the 
arguments of libertines, that' often diP 
concert weak Chrihians, and extinguilh 
therr faith. We live in an age that is 

fingularly 


2o8 


fingularly delicate, one is more afraid of 
ridicule than of vice : but how plenti¬ 
fully it is bellowed on any perfon, who 
attempts to write or fpeak in favour of 
Religion ! 

MuH it not appear a matter of aflo- 
nilhment, that one is nowobliged to make 
the apology of Chriflianity, to Chriflians 
themfelves, and that one is liable to be 
brought to an account for being pious 
and religious, as for being difhonefl ? 
what a lamentable proof of the degene¬ 
racy of the times ! 

O ! you, who have thus rebelled 
againfl Religion, if you regard the age 
in which you live, if you have any love 
for your country, fpare them the dif- 
grace which by your profligate conduct, 
you are about to bring upon them. Is 
it not enough to have fquandered 
twenty or thirty years of that life, which 
was deflined by your Creator, as a time' 
of trial, to acquire a claim to Heaven ? 
do you wifli, then, to confumate your 

iniquity 


209 


iniquity, by dying in as frightful a man¬ 
ner as you have lived? It is neither 
through hatred nor contempt that we 
reproach you with your incredulity. 
Woe to him who loves not his brethren, 
of whatever perfuafion they may be. 
Charity, which is the life and foul of 
Chriftianity, has nothing eife in view 
but your return into the bofom of that 
Church, whofe children you become the 
moment of your birth. There is no true 
Catholic who does not fincerely love 
you, notwithflanding your errors and 
your crimes, and who w'ould not loudly 
condemn as fanatics, thofe who would 
willi you the lead injury. Should the 
fpirit of party, for where, alas! is it not 
to be found ? make ufe of perfonalities 
to attack you, it is a fpirit that every 
good Chriftian reprobates and detefts. 

Liflen then to what Reafon tells you> 
and you will foon believe what revelation 
teaches. The language of the world 
and the paflions is not the language of 
Reafon. Enter into your foul, from 

which 




210 


which the pleafures and dlfTipation of thie! 
world have eftranged you, and you will 
learn that we ad like men, only when; 
we fulfil our duties towards God, and 
that God wiflies to be ferved in fpirit 
and in truths If ever the Chriftiaii' 
Religion has taught you any evil, dc- 
dare it boldly to the world but if it has i 
taught you only good, let k by your; 
glory to pradifeit. It is honourable to 
change our courfe, when we turn away j 
from the road of perdition; when we t 
renounce falfehood, to embrace truth. ; 

I 

Thefe are the counfels of Wifdom, 
whofe expreffions I have borrowed ; but 
will they be attended to ? Ah ! is it not : 
much to be feared that the world, increaf- i 
ing daily in irreligion and in malice, 
will be fuddenly furprized with that i 
general apoftacy, of which St. Paul ; 
fpeaks. Already the falling off from 
the faith, which proceeds from a fpirk 
of revolt and of curiofity, has caufed the 
ruin of many Chriftians, and right I 
Reafon is reprefented as folly by thofe,^ 

whot 



211 


who give themfelves for the greate/l 
fages and the luminaries of the age. 


CHAPTER XVIL 


ON THE DESIRE OF DEATli, 


The Soul has no other centre but 
eternity. Every thing calls her back to 
this great object : her wearinefs, her ^ 
difgufts, her defires, her hopes, her pro¬ 
jects caufe her an impatience and uneah- 
nefs, which prove that it is only in God 
file can find true repofe. 


But let us liften to Reafon in the 
inidfi: of all thofe evils that furround us, 
and let us weigh well what fhe fays to us 
on the fubjed : this is her language.— 
You are only here below in a place of 
* exile 





212 


exile ; your eyes were given you to look, 
up continually to Heaven, your true t 
country. The misfortunes and the , 
pafTions of which you complain, are fo 
many graces that God bellows on you, 
in order to difgufl you with the world 
and with yourfelves.v This world is only 
a theatre, where generations appear and 
difappear, almofl at the fame indant,. 
but the curtain wi-l not be raifed hill the 
moment you are to enter into the abodes 
of glory and repofe.. Whatever you fay 
or do, that ha.> not a relation to this 
grand objefl, is of no more ufe or foli- 
dity than a fpider’s web.. Your riches,, 
your titles, your Honors, your pleafures, 
your projeds, being entirely foreign to 
yourfelves, far from fatisfying and hlling 
the heart, rather encreafe its defires and - 
its wants. Can we be deaf to a voice fo ^ 
pow^erful and perfiiafive ? fhould it not i 
found in our ears like a peal of thunder, ^ 
and fnatch us all at once, from the world ! 
and its follies ? yet fcarcely has it the 
elFed of a faint echo, of which we hear 
but the lad fyllable. We render our- i 

lelves 





! 213 

I 

,felves unhappy by indulging our defires, 
|becaufe we defire only,what may remove 
I us from Death : we do not refledl that 
ithis laft term, in clofing our eyes, is to 
I open to us the eternal gates ; and the 
' more the fepulchre, that awaits us, ap- 
pears filled with horror and infedlion, 
the more auguft and luminous will be 
•the happy abodes of glory, that the fouls 
i;of the juft are to inhabit. 

|i Thofe grofs and material ideas, by 
which we are inceffantly affedled, are the 
caufeof this deplorable lethargy in which' 
we languifh. Men who are merely car- 
1 nel and wholly attached to this world, 
and who take delight in being fo, are 
fliocked at the thought of being deprived 
of their riches, their honors and their 
friends : they cannot conceive that their 
fouls exift only for God ; and that who¬ 
ever pofleftes him, is immenfely rich and 
powerful. Hence Death appears to them 
as an objed the moft hideous, and inftead 
of defiring it as a bleffing, they dread it 
■ as the greateft of calamities. If it were 

the 




214 


th-e guilt of their confcience that alarm* i 
ed them, that would be a reafonable and | 
falutary fear ; but it is merely their re- I 
gret at quitting a world they idolifed. I 
Ah ! what very different ideas does 
Reafon infpire ? She places us in fome 
meafure, face to face with God himfelf, 
and difcovers to us a glimpfe of that 
fplendor, and thofe ineffable delights, I 
which the faints enjoy in the heavenly 
Jerufalem. The Chriflian Philofophers 
fupported with regret the weight of a 
corruptible body, and ardently wifhed 
U be dijfolved and to he with Chriji^ be- 
caufe they were reafonable ; and we, 
becaufe we are infatuated, imagine that j 
this wretched mafs of flefh forms our ! 
whole being and our immenfity. In ! 
vain does our imagination open to our j 
intellectual view an extent of infinite j 
fpace, and tranfport us beyond the feas ! 
and the Heavens, we flill keep the foul 
captive and dependent on the mofl: - 
trifling objeCt. Ah 1 how wonderful 
and fublime is a foul that defires Death ! ^ 
file looks down with contempt and pity ' 


on 




215 


on all the thrones of the univerfe, and in a 
tranfport, which is neither the efFed of 
fanaticifm nor enthufiafm, fhe acknow¬ 
ledges God alone, to be capable of fixing 
and fatisfying her heart. She forgets all 
thofe inchanting objeds that captivate 
the fenfes, and inflame the paflions; fhe 
needs but herfelf to perceive and to 
know ; the only fubjedl of her joy, her 
only delight is the contemplation of that 
beauty which never fades. She eagerly 
defires and anticipates by her juft impati¬ 
ence, the happy moment, when fhe is to 
be admitted to the full enjoyment of the 
fovereign good. 

How Reafon muft lament, that thefe 
fentiments, which ought to be common 
to all men, are confidered as mere 
chimeras and vifions! and indeed Rea¬ 
fon cannot enjoy true liberty, but with 
thofe, who really wifti for Death, as the 
exaltation of the foul, and the humilia¬ 
tion of the body. To dread that mo¬ 
ment, which is to unite us to God, 
would be rendering our being fubfervient 

I to 


to vanity and falfehood. Would a perfon 
be afflifted at going to fee a father, a 
benefador, a friend, or at taking poffef- 
fion of a kingdom ? and yet we lament 
thofe that dye, and wifh a long life to 
ourfelves and others, as if it were the 
fummit of our happinefs- 

But let us impartially confider, what 
is this life with which we are fo much 
enamoured : are thofe fmiles that accom¬ 
pany it, as fincere as people imagine ? or 
can they counterbalance all the embar- 
raifments and cares that perplex us ? not 
a day or perhaps an hour pafles over, 
that our imagination is not contriving 
fomething to difturb our repofe, or that 
we do not feel fome uneafinefs or afflic¬ 
tion of mind. If we are not tormented 
with pains, our wants annoy us ; if con- 
tradid;ions and erodes do not moled us, 
we are overwhelmed with bufinefs ; if 
we do ;iot fufFer from indigence, our 
riches are a burden to us; if the world 
does not importune us, folitude renders 
us fad and melancholy ; if not indaved 

by 


217 


by the pafiions, we are tormented with 
fcruples. In a word, perplexed by our 
relations, our friends and ourfelves, we 
are forced at length to wifh to fee the 
end of our mifery, and the beginning of 
a more tranquil and happy life. 

What a mountain of folicitude and 
misfortunes between our cradle and the 
grave ! a mountain which the imagina¬ 
tion ceafes not to magnify, and which 
we always difcover more or lefs, even in 
the midfl of feafts and enjoyments. 
Thefe two wills, which are perpetually at 
variance with each other ; this continual 
war between the foul and body, the one 
endeavouring to gain the afcendancy 
over the other ; thefe pafiions that are 
always endeavouring to filence Reafon, 
produce fuch a confufed chaos that 
Death alone can reduce to order, by 
reftoring ur* to God. 

I will then wi/h for thee, O precious 
Death, if I am truly reafonable, and will 
confider thee as the perfection of my 
L being, 


2lS 


being, and the triumph of human nature. 
The rich,.the great, the voluptuary, or 
our falhionahle wits, may, invain,tell nie^ 
thou art only an objed of horror, or a 
mere nothing ; I will deplore their errors, 
and will invoke thee, not from defpair^ 
but from refledion and from inclination; 
for thy vifit will be the harbinger of my 
felicity, the joy of my thoughts and the 
plenitude of my life. I am in a co nil ant i 
Hate of fuffering here below, walking in Ij 
the midfl: of thorns and brambles, groan- i 
ing under the weight of a flefli that op- i! 
prefles me, and fighing after fo many | 
relatives and friends that I have feen ij 
depart this life; but when thou lhalt 
come 10 breakdown the wall of fepara- | 
tion, andreftore me to God and my true 
country, the happy abode of juftice and 
peace, then will my .defires be immova¬ 
bly fixed in.the centre of happinefs, then 
will 1 become, iminutable^.iinmenfe, arid 
even, a partaker of the divine nature, i! 
But what do I perceive? already all the i 
powers of my foul are fiiaken, my body 
forfakes me, the earth vanifhes, the fun 

difappears^ j 




2J9 

difappears, I am fuddenly furrounded 
with the light of Heaven, I am no longer 
that carnal man, who before crawled in 
the duft, but am become a pure and fub- 
lime fpirit, I have already feen that God 
face to face, whom before I adored by 
faith, I have fully difcovered the truth of 
the facred writings. My Reafon now, 
intimately united to the fupreme Being, 
participates in his power, his wifdom 
and his immenfity. It is thus faith 
difcovers to us what is to happen to the 
good Chriilian at the moment he ex» 
piles. 

- But it is not in this manner people in 
general confider or defire Death. Thofe 
who wifii for it, imagine that its only 
advantage is to put an end to their mi- 
fery. Hence you frequently hear thefe 
abfurd expreflions, fo frequeinly ufed on 
the occafion of a perfon dying : it is hap¬ 
py for him^ his fufferings ai'O now at an 
end. How can rational Beings and 
Chriflians prefrime to exprefs themfelves 
thus? have we then, ilided that interior 
L 2 voice, 


220 


^voice, which incefTantly warns us of our 
immortality. Have we renounced our 
Religion, which teaches us, that death is 
what confumates the misfortunes of ma¬ 
ny ? we fhouid be well perfuaded that 
it is only after being ftripped of our cor¬ 
ruptible bodies, that we fliall be qualifi¬ 
ed to enjoy true .Iife^ 

The Pagans, who were guided only 
^by the light of Reafon, loudly profefied 
their belief of the Dogma of immortali¬ 
ty, and gloried in .defiring Death, that 
they might be re-united with the fupremc 
Being ; with this qonvi^ion they have 
been feen to expire with the greateft' 
•compofure and tranquillity, pronounc¬ 
ing difcourfes on the greatnefs of the 
foul and its future deftiny. They iup¬ 
wardly felt, that it is the faculty of think¬ 
ing that diflinguifhes us as men, and 
that thought, being purely fpiritual, and 
continually feeking to take its flight 
beyond this material world, ought ne- 
xeffarily tp ftiryive the body. 


Is 


211 


Is it then^ a matter of fuch wondef, to - 
defire that which is to render us fupreme- 
ly happy, which is to free us from our 
mifery, and releafe us from this earthly 
prifon ? it is furely much more to be 
wondered'at, that men fhould'fuffer their 
thoughts and their attention to be wholly 
engrofled by this tranfitory life, as if it 
were to lafl for ever, and to fee them 
bafely enflaved to falfe and imaginary 
goods, which only caufe uneafinefs and 
remorfe, and which vanifh like the dream 
of a night, leaving their hearts and their 
fiands empty. Let time take its courfe, 
and, if there remain any doubt, it will 
foon convince us, that all our projects 
are but vanity and folly, and that he 
alone is truly wife, who attaches himfelf 
to what will never perifh. The frequent 
thought and defire of Death is the means 
to render Death propitious, and to avoid 
the dreadful puniniment of the wicked. 
In reality, we find that none but irreligi» 
ous men would wifh never to die, or 
fuch as are ftupid enough to believe in 
annihilation. Reafon revolts and cries 

out 


22t 


out againfl: them : I here only trace 
what Hie dilates. 

It Is true, the afpe^t of a tomb prefents 
nothing but what is horrible and frightful 
to nature, and feems to be the limit of 
our exiftence; but does not Rcafon and 
our inward feeling convince us, that 
-thought is immortal, and that our defires 
are too vaft and immenfe to be confined 
to this miferable life ; that God himfelf 
would have failed in his own work, if in 
giving us thefe flrong defires this longing 
after immortality, he had not created us 
immortal ? none but ftupid fenfelefs men 
judge of things merely by the outward 
appearances* 

Yes, my Reafon, thou lookefl: forward 
with confidence to Death as that happy 
moment, when thou fhalt be freed from 
the annoyance of the paflions, and thofe 
clouds, which now obfeure thy lufire. 
It is becaufe we do not liften to thy voice, 
that we willi to prolong our exile ; we 
confound thee with our earthly afFedti- 

ons: 



oils : how elevated, how luminous wilt 
thou become, when difengaged from thi?' 
burden of earth, that weighs thee down, 
thou ihalt ex^perieilce the immediate im- 
predion of God himfelf, who now en¬ 
lightens and infpires thee I 

Ah ! why would not Reafon wifli for 
death, whereas at that inllanr, all die has 
told us of the other life, will be realifed ; 
whereas (he will then return to her 
fource, and wdll find thofe lights fhc de- 
fires and thofe goods fhe fo eagerly feeks; 
in a wordf fhe will pofiefs that Being 
who is infinitely powerfiil and infinitely 
good. This earth is an incommodious 
place of refidence for Reafon ; fhe fees 
nothing but aflions that degrade her, file 
hears nothing but difcourfes that oppofe 
and contradi 6 : her, fhe reads nothing but 
writings that debafe her : but in Heaven^ 
fire will be in her centre, her faculties^ 
will be as much enlarged there, as they, 
are confined here below. 


CIIAPTKR 


Si24 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


ON rHM ASUSE OF PHILOSOPHY. 


Every age has produced fome fingu- 
lar men, who by cabal and the love of 
what is marvellous, have been held up 
as philofophers ; but it was referved for 
our times to exhibit a certain brilliancy 
of wit, which is neither good fenfe nor 
genius, and to infill upon making this 
the rule of our morals and our faith* 
An ardent imagination for creating fyf* 
terns and paradoxes ; a tafle for novelty, 
which appears even, in the expreflion 
and the ftyle, a proud ignorance, that 
flatly contradicts the inward convidion 
and belief of all ages, a monflrous im- 
piety, which attacks God hiinfelf, and 
endeavours to overturn his altars; a tone 
of irony and contempt, which ferves as 

an 


225 

an anfwer to all objections : behold what 
has been fubftituted for the erudition of 
the antients, and what procures the ad¬ 
vantage of becoming philofophers, at the 
age of twenty. Neither the teftimony- 
of Plato, who profelfed his belief of the; 
immortality of the foul, nor of Seneca, 
who acknowledged a Providence, is fuf- 
hcient to filence our unbelievers ; they 
alfert that the foul is only a part of the 
body, that they are both one and the fame 
fubftance, that God does not vouchfafe to' 
concern himfelf about the aCtions of men 
nor about the world ; and they give thefe 
bare aflertionsfor evident demonllrations. 

But what monftrous errors'! Should 
they not excite all our horror and indig¬ 
nation, or rather all our pity ? it is only 
by the abufe of Reafon, that men pre¬ 
fume now-a-days to ufurp the title of 
philofophers ; as in diilionoring the age, 
by an unaccountable fren2:yand delirium, v 
and they pretend, by the moil fantafdcal ■ 
productions,. to render it illuftriotis. 
Have we then eyes, or do we know how 
L. 5 to 


226 


to make ufe of them ? I do not mean to 
detail here all the abfurdities, that the 
fpirit of novelty has brought forth in thefe , 
latter times ; I would fear left I might 
exafperate the reader, and excite his ha¬ 
tred againft his cotemporaries. It is 
fufficient to know, that thofe luminaries 
of the prefent age have imagined, that 
it was a wonderful thing to teach men to 
believe nothing, and to hope for nothing 
beyond the grave, to confound vice with 
virtue, and to put themfelves on a level 
with the reptile and the infe 6 t. It is fuf¬ 
ficient to know, that they repute a man a 
hypocrite or an idiot, who profeftes a 
religious worfhip, and that, even among 
Chriftians, it is confidered a weaknefs to 
declare one felf a Chriftianj and to adopt 
the maxims of the Gofpel. Are we 
really awake, or rather are we not like 
perfons who walk in their lleep, and who 
zdi and fpeak without knowing what 
they fay or do ? 

True philofophers are divine and fpi- 
litual men, who efteem nothing but their 

foul. 


foul, whofe hearts and thoughts are con¬ 
tinually fixed on the Supreme Being', 
from whom alone they expedt real hap- 
pinefs ; they adopt and faithfully obferve 
that worfhip, which he has prefcribed, 
they fubmit with docility to the infalli¬ 
ble authority of that Church, w'hich he 
has eftablifhed, and carefully guard 
againft all innovations or fufpeded opi¬ 
nions concerning faith. They are good 
citizens, good friends, good parents^ in a 
word, they are good Chriftians ; far 
from difiurbing the ftate by their writ¬ 
ings or difcourfes, they Ihew the example 
of filence, of refpeft and fubmifiion to 
the laws. They never' fpeak but to an¬ 
nounce the truth, they never write any 
thing to the prejudice of Religion, of 
morals or of their neighbour. Sublime 
in their thoughts, fimple in their ex- 
prefiions, confiftent and uniform in their 
adions, they obferve a condud that does 
honour to human nature. 

Strangers to ambition, to cabals and 
intrigue, they do not court public fai 

YOllt *' 


22S 


vour or applaufe; they refain from com¬ 
plaints, from detradion and from dif- 
putes. Wifdom is their glory, ftudy 
their delight, peace their treafure, Hea¬ 
ven the foie objed of their ambition, 
and a good confcience their joy and their 
felicity. If perfecuted and opprefled by 
injullice, they fuppofe they muft have 
deferved it; if outraged and calumniated^ 
they rejoice ; if afflided with ficknefs, 
they receive it as the warning of death 
and the forerunner of the life to come. 
Far from proclaiming to the world their 
probity, as thofe are apt to do, who are 
deftitute of any, they content themfelves 
with fulfiling fcrupulouHy all their du¬ 
ties ; attentive, not to the world, but to 
themfelves, not to this life, but to eter¬ 
nity, thy dread neither the revolutions 
of time, nor the caprice of fortune. 
Unaffeded in their manners, and with¬ 
out oflentation in their adions, they ap¬ 
pear fingular only, becaufe they fliew 
candour in a world that is made up of 
duplicity and deceit. Their profelytes, 
if they are fo fortunate to gain any, are 

not 


229 


not their difciples, but the difciples of 
virtue ; they are fatisfied to be forgotten 
themfelves, provided that truth prevail. 

If thofe, who affirm that philofophers 
were never dangerous to the ftate, under- 
Hand by philofophers fuch men as we 
have juft defcribed, their aflertionis un¬ 
doubtedly true. But how wide, the dif¬ 
ference ! the philofophers they boaft ofy. 
are an Epicure, a Celfus, a Porphyry, a. 
Hobbs, a Spinofa, that is to fay, thofe 
dangerous mad-men who have advanced 
the moft extravagant and unheard 
paradoxes, and whofe trite objeflions- 
have been revived by the unbelievers of 
our times ; they mean by philofophers, 
thofe rafti and impious men, who have 
attempted to ftrip the world of its de- 
pendaiice, the foul of its immortality, 
and God himfelf of his moft effential at¬ 
tributes ; they mean thofe pernicious 
doctors of falfehood, who have endea¬ 
voured to deftroy all religious worfhip, 
and to leave mankind a prey to their 
paflions, and to all the horrors of impie- 


230 


ty ;'they mean, in fine, thofe proiid and' 
rebellious men, who, declaring Religion * 
to be the mere effed of policy or preju¬ 
dice, would wifh to level, together with 
the altars^ all eflablifhed governments 
and reduce the whole world to a ftate of 
univerfal anarchy. 

Let them not, then prefume to fay, 
that philofophers have never done harm j 
both Reafon and experience aflert the 
contrary. Even Socrates hiinfelfj whom 
our modern fages reprefent almofl: as a 
deity, was not altogether free from ble- 
mifh. He is, no doubt, intirled to praife, 
for having profefT^d the Unity of God, 
but, though he is cried up as^the martyr 
of truth, did he not betray, at his death; 
a criminal weaknefs, in contradidling 
his belief by an idolatrous facrifice ? da 
we not difcover in him that arrogance 
and pride, fo common to philofophers ? 
at the fame time that they idolife them- 
felves, they look down with contempt 
on the reft of mankind. 


True 



231 


True philofopHy is the pure unadulte¬ 
rated language of Reafon ; but how 
many unreafonable perfons do we find 
arnongthofejwho are calledphilofophers? 
there are fome of thefe pretended fages,. 
who are more vulgar than the common 
people, though they feem to confider 
themfelves of a fuperior order of beings,, 
who fet themfelves up for men of genius, 
building new paradoxes on old hypothe- 
fes, and afterwards announcing then>- 
felves as the interpreters of nature and of 
God, in fine, as the oracles of the age. 
Gallily advanced fimply, that the earth 
turns round the fun, and that the fun 
remains immovable, and forth-with, a 
fwarm of pretenders to fcience fiart up, 
who peremptorily affirm, that all the 
planets are inhabited, that the earth be¬ 
ing much frnaller than we imagined, we 
fhould confider mankind but as atoms, 
and believe, that God pays no attention 
to their adions nor their thoughts. 
Locke appeared, and, from want of due 
reflexion, happened to fay, who knows 
whether matter may not be capable of 

thinking ^ 


^32 

thinking ? and immediately our refined 
wits,, who declared themfelves his difci- 
ples, and abettors of his doctrine, main¬ 
tained that matter does think. It is 
thus philofophy ferves to foment the 
paflions and prejudice ; and thus Reafon 
is held captive, , and the world goes on 
heaping paradoxes on paradoxes,, it is 
thus, in fine, that a mere.fuppofition, or. 
an exprefiion dropt inadvertantly has 
given room to a thoufand abfurdities., 

In order, then, to merit.the title of; 
philofopher, it is not enough to imagine 
new fyftems : for who is there that is not 
capable of fuch imaginations ! when men 
have only their own vifions to advance 
as proofs of what we are to believe or 
teach, they are not qualified to fet them¬ 
felves up for dodors* Though one of 
our dogmatifing philofophers may tell: 
me, for inftance, that this world has al¬ 
ways exifted, and is to lafl for ever : I 
will anfvver him,, that this language is 
not that of Reafon ; becaufe, far from 
being fupported or proved, it is contra¬ 
ry 


^33 


ry to all probability. Though another 
may pretend to perfuade me by metaphi- 
fical arguments, that the foul is not fpi- 
ritual -y I will tell him that his meta- 
philics is a falfe and extravagant fyftem.. 
Should they affirm that the pureft vir¬ 
tue has no other motive but fclf^nterefl:: 
I would confider fuch an affertion as an 
abufe of found morality. The tefti- 
mony af that interior monitor that re- 
lides in the bread: of every man, is fuffi- 
cient to convince us of the folly and ab- 
furdity of thofe fophifms, which our pre¬ 
tended wits would fain impofe on the 
world, and that mod: of thefe works call¬ 
ed philofophical, are wholly deflitute of 
philofophy, and contain nothing but ex¬ 
travagant doubts, chimerical and dan¬ 
gerous affertions, rafh and falfe propofi- 
tions, which are contradided by Rea- 
fon and experience : It is this inward: 
teftimony that confirms thofe firfi: grand- 
truths, which God has infufed into the 
minds of all, and perfuades us that there 
is nothing infallible and indubitable but 
what is from God, and confequently 

diat 


that it isra mod: criminal abufe of philb- 
fophy to employ it againft the authority 
of that Religion, which God has been 
pleafed‘ to reveal to man; 

Come, then, ralTi and dangerous 
fophift, and renounce the title of philo- 
fopher, which ignorance and prejudice 
have bellowed upon thee, come and re-^ 
fume thy Reafon ; be not alhamed to mix 
with that people, whom thou^ wert wont 
to defpife and confider fo far beneath 
thee, that very people, fimple as they are, 
will teach thee to know thy origin and 
thy deftiny, to adore a God and to pay 
him that homage and worfhip, which he 
himfelf has ordained. Yes, thou wilt 
hear from the mouth even^ of a poor 
tradefman, what ought to be the objcdl 
of thy refearches, and what would infure 
thy real happinefs. In vain doll thou 
alfed: a difplay of proud fcience, thy 
lights are, in truth, but darknefs, and 
thy vanity the caufe of thy ruin ; there 
is no true Chriftian, however, young or 
fimple. he may be, who is not a better 
philofopher. 


255 

philofopher than thou, and who has not 
fufficient motives to lament and defpife. 
thee. 

Sublime Philofophy! how thou haft 
been disfigured by thofe pretended phr- 
lofophers ! in their hands, thou art but a 
perverfion of Reafon, a mere chimera, 
they have reduced thee to an empty 
found of words deftitute of meaning 
for the unbelievers, being without prin¬ 
ciples and without experience, only 
know how to overturn and deftroy. If 
they talk of changing the form of go¬ 
vernments, and of aboliftiing the Chrif- 
tian Religion, they agree at the fame 
time, that they do not fee what they can 
fubftitute in their Head : what a concef- 
lion ! ^tis, as it were, the voice of Reafon 
that makes itfelf heard even by the moft 
unreafonable a voice they cannot en¬ 
tirely flifle.. 

Shall we ever again have the fatisfac- 
tion to fee the return of thofe happy 
times, when a Malbranche (hewed to 

the 


436 

the earth the real beauties of true philo- 
fophy ? the world would now want a 
fage like him, to reftore to the foul 
thofe goods of which unbelievers wifli* 
to ftrip her. The fenfes have fo weak¬ 
ened and obfcured our Reafon, that we 
are no more than mere lhadows of our- 
felves. The true ragesj)afs for dotards,, 
and mad-men for philofophers. 

A writer, hurried away by an ardent 
imagination, fuddenly takes up the pen 
and plunges headlong into the moff ex¬ 
travagant errors, he publifhes his reve- 
ties and vifions with an inconceivable 
aflurance, and, lo ! he is cried up for a 
great man. His readers,, either not un- 
derftanding his language, or feduced by 
the fingularity, or rather the excentricity 
of his ideas, are feized with a fort of en- 
thufiafm and pronounce him a divine 
author :. Some lady of refined taffe, 
whofe opinion is decifive, confirms this 
teftimony ; and from that moment, 
whoever prefumes to think otherwife has 
neither tafte nor genius. 


Is 



237 

It is thus the reputation of our mo¬ 
dern Philofophers is formed and fpread 
abroad. But let us leave them to enjoy 
their triumph, it can laft but a moment j 
death and pofterity will foon avenge the 
wrongs of Chriflianity and the contempt 
in which it has been held ; the one by 
clearly making known the truth, the 
other by fhuddering at the errors of 
mankind. If the pure elements of phi- 
lofophy were univerfally adopted in our 
feminaries of learning, difengaged from 
all thofe futile queflions and from all that 
jargon of the fchools, which only ferve 
to confufe the ideas, we might exped to 
fee at length, the reign of found Reafon 
gradually reftored. In the fciences, as 
well as in bufinefs, our principal objed 
ihould be to fimplify and to prefent 
things in their true light ^ it is from the 
negled of a.dopting this method, that a 
juft manner of thinking is fo rare. There 
is a tone of Reafon in the world, which 
notwithftanding all our folly and caprice 
would make itfelf be heard, if we would 
but rightly attend to it. But mankind 


23B 

HI general are blinded with .prejudice, 
and influenced by the fpirit of party. 
Alas ! what dreadful evils has not this 
unfortunate fpirit produced ! how often, 
even in the very fandtuary itfelf, has it 
fown the feeds of difeord among thofe, 
who fhould be the Mihiflers of Peace \ 
how often has it exiinguiflied the flame 
of charily in thofe breafls, which fliould 
communicate it to others ! how often 
has it given rife to acrimony and dif- 
putes among divines, which tended more 
to deflroy than to edify ! God forbid I 
fliould thereby mean to impeach that 
true apoftolic zeal, which fliould be ever 
jealous of the real interefls of Religion, 
I fpeak only of abufes, which, it mufl: be 
owned, have been very great. It is the 
abufe of philofophy that fills our cities 
with fuch a fwarm of obfeene and impi¬ 
ous produdions: ’tis it engenders ani- 
mofity, hatred and diflentions : ’tis it 
gives encouragement and rewards to 
writers, who deferve only cenfure : ’tis 
k extorts praife and applaufe in favour 
of the mofl indiflerent, and frequently 

the 



239 

the moft abandoned and dangerous cha¬ 
racters : it is the abufe of philofophy 
that leaves the Chriftian Philofoplier in 
obfcurity, and declares Religion to be 
only a political invention or a mere chi¬ 
mera : it is it, in fine, that attacks and in- 
fults the true worfhip, and degrades the 
dignity of man. 

How much fuperior is the Reafon of 
the fimple peafant who adores his God, 
refpeCts the laws, and peaceably enjoys 
the fruits of his labour, how far prefera¬ 
ble to this vain fcience, that knows no¬ 
thing but to contradiCl, to deny or to 
doubt. The language of Reafon is often 
better underftood in the fliepherds ca¬ 
bin, than in the philofophers fludy. 
The one has but his foul and truth, 
which he can difcover without any ob- 
ftacle j the other on the contrary, with 
his head filled with paradoxes and hy- 
pothefes, is almofl an entire ftranger to 
himfelf and is incapable of knowing or 
diflinguifliing his own nature. Vainly 
then,"do people affea; to call this the 

fhihfophic 


240 


phUofophic age^ If it is diftinguiflied for 
fome works of genius, how many are 
there that difhonour and degrade it! our. 
writers feem to take a pride in publifli- 
ing all their reveries, and entertaining 
their reader with v/hatever affedls or dif- 
turbs their imagination. Let us be men, 
andjnotwithftandingthis delirium,which 
feems fo univerfally to pervade people of 
all ages and conditions, we will learn to 
think and fpeak as Reafon teaches, but I 
mean, found and unbiaiTed Reafon, and 
not the fuggeftions of the palhons, which 
are too often miftaken for the language 
of Reafon, and which are the fource of 
all our misfortunes, 

O Reafon! thou noble and valuable 
faeulty ! thou always refideft in me. 
Xmpofe hlence on my fenfes and my paL 
fions, that I may be able to hear and to 
obey thee. There is no true philofophy 
without thee ; thofe who aflume the name 
of philofophers, do not even know thee. 
What! though they deep in thy bofom, 
they do not even perceive thy exigence. 

How 


241 


Kow humiliating to walk with a torch in 
one’s hand, and not to fee ! fuch is our ua ■ 
happy (late. Make thyfelf known then, 
; O precious Reafon 1 and thou wilt renew 
the earth, thou wilt revive that true tafte 
and difcernment, which have been al- 
moll loll, thou v/ilt eflablifli thyfelf on 
the ruins of falfe wit, thou wilt refcue 
good fenfe from that obfcure and debafed 
'(late, in wdtich it has hitherto been, and 
thou wilt render Philofophy the fchool 
of Morality and of Religion. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


ON riTS. LIMITS OF REASOII* 

Reason, were it not limited, muft 

be the divinity itfelf. Every creature 
ought to carry with it the marks of its 
nothingnefs. The earth wears, the liars 
are eclipfed, men die, and the foul cron-' 
M tinirally 






tinually feels its own weaknefs ; for he 
alone is infinite, who has created all. 

Thefe truths, though within the reach 
■of every man, yet feem incomprehenfible 
to the greater number. Some little 
minds raifing themfelves on the wings of 
prefumption, vainly imagine that all 
ihould yield to their refearches, that 
there is nothing inaccefiible to their pe¬ 
netrating genius ; and what renders this 
conceit the more fingular is, that, at the 
fame time that they boafl: of being able 
to fathom and comprehend every thing, 
they declare themfelves to be of the fame 
nature with the brute. Their foul, 
which they fuppofe to be but a particle of 
matter, fhall ere6t itfelf as judge of God 
and of his eternal decrees. What a won¬ 
derful particle this mufi: be ! does it not 
comprife myfteries, much more difficult 
to be conceived than all thofe that faith 
propofes ? 

But tell me then, proud Man ! didfi 
thou really imagine, that the nature of 

Cod 


*43 


God could have nothing incomprehenfi- 
ble to thy weak Reafon ? or if thou didfl: 
not think fo, how couldfl thou prefume 
to judge of matters of faith, and rejed 
thofe ineffable dogmas, becaufe they 
tranfcend thy comprehenfion ? haft thou 
been able to fcan all the ways of God, 
thou who doft vainly boaft that, by be ■ 
coming Deift, thou getteft rid of all my- 
fteries and difficulties ? canft thou ex¬ 
plain to us the nature of this immenfi- 
ty without fpace, this eternity without 
beginning, this adion and this repofe of 
a Being, who changes every thing and 
remains himfelf unchangable, who is 
every where though he has neither parts 
nor extenfion, who performs all in us, 
without conftraining our liberty ? What 
then is this God, whofe fecrets and 
counfels thou pretended to fathom ? 
wffiere w’as he before the formation of 
this univerfe, or how^ has he formed it ? 
from what ftorc has he drawn matter, or 
that thunder-bolt which perhaps is point¬ 
ed at thee ? already, I perceive thou art 
daggered, 1 fee thee begin to hefitate, to 
M 2 faulter, 


J244 


faulter, thou art quite bewildered in the 
horrors of thy nothingnefs. Thou 
knowefl not the nature of the winds, 
nor the eflence of fire, nor even of a Tin¬ 
gle grain of fand. Thou knowefl: not 
what the little fly is, that buzzes in thy 
ears, nor the dog that fawns on thee; 
nay, thou knowefl: not the manner of thy 
exiftence nor thy own thoughts. Ah ! 
rafli'Man, or rather, puny Philofopher ! 
to what an alternative art thou reducedf 
either to acknowledge thyfclf a weak 
mortal, or a mad-man. 

There is fcarce an inflant of our life 
that we may not eafily perceive the limits 
of our Reafon. Like tbis vifible horizon 
that terminates our view, it prefents to 
us a finite fpace. Afl-i that Philofopher, 
who conftantly applies himfelf to difco- 
ver the operations of nature, or that 
Profeflfor of medicine, who is fo attentive 
in watching the courfe of the animal 
fpirits, and the circulation of the hu¬ 
mours and of the blood, or that Met.a- 
phyfician, who is fo well fivilled in dif- 
, ' tinguiflting 


245 


tmguifliing the wonders of the foul and 
its influence over the body ; unlefs they 
be infatuated men, or inipofters, they 
will all acknowledge, that they cannot 
perceive either the caufes or the fecret 
fprings that fet this univerfe in motion ; 
they will confefs, that we have here be¬ 
low only a light proportioned to our 
w/ants, and that when w^e attempt to pe¬ 
netrate too far, w'e are liable to fall info 
Hie mofh extravagant errors ; they will' 
own that they meet infuperable obftacles 
every flep they take, and that it is im- 
poflible to tear afunder that veil, which 
the Almighty has put between his de- 
figns and our perceptions ; in fine, they 
will agree, that whoever exceeds the li¬ 
mits which God himfclf has fixed, mufl: 
be opprefl’ed by the immenfe w^eighc of 
his power. 

The proud Man, like the rebel angel, 
has faid in the arrogance of his mind, I 
w ill afeend the throne of wdfdom, and 
will become like unto the mofl: high. 
But what have thefe blafphemies produc¬ 
ed 


24S 


cd ? all the horrors and extravagance 
with which our modern writings are fill¬ 
ed. The Almighty, jealous of the glory 
of his name, and of the incomprehenfi- 
bility of his adorable ways, has confined 
our Reafon within a circle which it can¬ 
not exceed ; beyond that, all difputes 
Ihould ceafe, nor ought we to reject a 
truth, becaufe we cannot conceive it. 

What confufion and diforder would 
prevail in the world, if the Creator were 
fubjed to be brought to an account by 
his creatures ! and if what is finite 
fnould infifi: on comprehending what is 
infinite ! each being acts according to 
the faculties it has received : man ac¬ 
cording to his reafon, and the bead ac¬ 
cording to its inftind ; thefe two facul¬ 
ties, though different from each crther, 
have their refpedive bounds. In vain 
does the Philofopher penetrate into the 
clouds, he finds as well as the fimple 
Ihepherd, a barrier that flops his pro- 
grefs. It was not to the fea alone, but 
to each of us, that the Almighty gave 

this 


247 

this irrevocable order : thus far Jhalt 
thou go and no farther^ here fliall exfpire 
the pride of thy fwoln waves. God has 
been pleafed to give us fufficient capa-* 
city to know him and to love him, but 
not to comprehend him^ He would be 
no longer what he is, if we could con¬ 
ceive his ineffable myfteries. Ah ! how 
can we be fo prefumptious as to pretend 
to it, we who cannot even guefs v/hat 
paffes in the interior of another man, 
nay, even of the fmalleft infect. 

Our Reafon fubferibes to thefe truths; 
for properly fpeaking, Reafon never re¬ 
volts ; in order to perfuade us of the 
contrary, it would be neceffary to prove, 
that light is darknefs. In reality, Rea¬ 
fon v/ould then,, ceafe to be what fhe is, 
fhe would att again ft herfelf, if her ope¬ 
rations were to lead us into folly and 
error. If then, we do not abufe the fa~ 
culties and the name of Reafon, we muft 
acknowledge, that people will always be 
ready to fubmit tb revealed truths, when 
they act reafonahiy, God according to 

the 


248 


the expreffion of the fcripture, has given 
up the world to the difputes of men, but 
he has referved Religion as a facred de- 
pofit, which we ought to admire and re.- 
vere. 

There can be nothing more capable of 
convincing us of this truth, than the 
reading of all the different works of ge¬ 
nius, that are extant in the world. How¬ 
ever profound, fublime and luminous 
they may be,,they do not teach us either, 
to fee into futurity, or to difcover the 
caufe of a thoufand effedls that we be¬ 
hold. If they demonftrate certain truths, 
which cannot be doubted, the object of 
thefe truths is not infinite. Thus, whe¬ 
ther we reconcile all the antient and mo¬ 
dern authors, or oppofe them to each 
other, the only refult of all their re- 
fearches and obfervations will be a know¬ 
ledge that is limited or purely ideal. All 
things, except God, have their bounda¬ 
ries, and all fliould pay homage to him, 
as the only infinite Being. 


But 


249 


B-ut In order to prove our weaknef^s • 
I afk no more than the fight of the vaft 
ocean, when it fwells, fubfides, or opens 
its unfathomable abyfs ; or the view of 
the firmament, when in the midfi: of 
night, it difplays all its riches. The 
foul aftoniflied and bewildered,, amidfl 
fuch fiupendous objeds, endeavours to 
colled her Reafon, and fcarcely knows 
'herfelf, or how fhe exifts. ' 

It is only by adhering to God, and by 
fubmitting to and adoring his impener 
trable decrees, that wc are enabled to 
extend and enlarge our Reafon. Other- 
wife, (lie remains groveling, even when 
fhe feems to foar, and her ftudies are but 
a fcience that puffeth up and teacheth no¬ 
thing. 

■ We cannot add a line to our feature,. 
a dr6p of water to the fea, a leaf to the 
fmallefl: plant, nor a wing to a little fly ; 
and we pretend to found the depths of 
infinite wifdom ! Moreover, has not our 
Reafon its beginning, its encreafe andits. 

I\I 5 decay, 


250 


decay, and mufi: it not confequently be 
weak, limited and dependent ? a fever 
overturns it, a glafs of wine difturbs it, a 
fright difconcerts it; at -one time, the 
fport of the paflions, at another, the vic- 
tirrr<o£.^the fenfes, fhe is bewildered and 
confounded, and proves to us, that God 
alone is always the fame, always eternal, 
always infinite, and is confined neither 
by limits nor duration. 

It might, perhaps, be neceflary here 
to point out the means of keeping Rea- 
f(5n within her proper bounds, and of 
rendering her intelligible ; but as rules 
of conduct are but feldom reduced to 
pradice, it would probably be a fuper- 
fluous undertaking. This much is cer¬ 
tain, that retirement from the world, and 
the mortification of the fenfes reftore the 
foul to herfelf, and leave us to enjoy the 
happy advantage of refiefting, and at¬ 
tending to the dictates of Reafon ; it is 
certain, that the idea of eternity ever 
prefent to the mind, brings us to a re- 
colle^ion of our nothingnefs, and frees 


us 


US from all ambition of afpirfng to what 
is above our ftrength. You then, who 
are perhaps on the point of fhaking off 
the yoke of Faith, and who imagine you 
hear the voice of Reafon, in liftening 
only to the clamour of the palTions, flop 
and refled ferioufly on the greatnefs of 
God, whofe ways are as incomprehenfi- 
ble as himfelf; hearken to thofe infpira- 
tions, to thofe interior admonitions of 
your own confcience. This is the true 
Language of Reafon : attend to it; and 
you will live like men confcious of their 
immortality. 


OF THE language OF REASOH^ 


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AN 


EXTRACT 


FROM THE 

THOUGHTS OF Mons. PASCAL, 

—- 

AGAINST THE INDIFFERENCE OF ATHEISTS 
AND FREE-THINKERS. 

I^ET thofe who impugn the Chriftian 
Religion, firll: learn what it is, before 
they make their attack. If this Religi¬ 
on boafted of feeing God clearly, and 
enjoying his prefence without any veil of 
obfcurity ; to objed that thereis nothing 
in this world which difcovers him fo 
evidently to us, would indeed, be diredly 
levelling at the truth of her pretentions. 
But whereas Religion tells us,on the con¬ 
trary, that we are here in a ftate of dark- 





254 


nefs. and feparated from God, that he 
conceals himfelf from us, and that he calls 
himfelf in fcripture, Deus adfconditus^ 
the hidden God: in fine, if Religion 
endeavours equally to efliablifh thefe two 
points :—that God has left in his Church 
fenfible marks, whereby he may be 
known by thofe who feek him fincerely, 
but that they are, at the fame time, fo 
veiled, as to be difcovered only by thofe 
who feek him with fincerity of heart: 
as long then, as they continue in this 
ftate of indifference and negle<51: (as they 
profefs themfclves to be) of feeking the 
truth; what does it avail them to fay, 
that nothing difcovers it to them ? fince 
this very obfcurity, in which they re¬ 
main, and which they object againfl the 
Church, only ferves to eflabliili one of 
thofe points which fhe maintains, and 
far from invalidating, fupports and con¬ 
firms her dodrrne. 

In order to attack Religion ferioufly, 
they fhould declare, that they have ufed 
all their endeavours to feek every where, 

and 


255 


and have examined even, all that the 
Church propofesjinordertoclear up their 
doubts, but to no purpofe. Were they 
to fpeak thus, I acknowledge, they would 
then indeed, challenge one of her pre¬ 
tentions. But, I trufl, I (hall be able to 
prove that no reafonable perfon can ad¬ 
vance this aflertion, and am even bold to 
fay, that no one has ever affirmed it. 

It is well known how perfons of this 
difpofition generally ad. They think 
they have made great efforts to come at 
the truth, if they venture to fpend a few 
hours in reading the Scripture, and afk a 
few queflions of fome Minifler of Reli¬ 
gion concerning matters of Faith. After 
that, they boafl that they have inquired 
both of men and books for inftrudion, 
but in vain. J really, cannot help tell-^ 
ing them, what I have often faid, that 
this negligence is not to be borne with. 
There is not queftion here of the imma¬ 
terial intereft of a ftranger : there is 
queflion of ourfelves and of all that is 
moil: dear to us. 


The 


256 

The immortality of the foul is a mat¬ 
ter of fuch weighty importance to us, and 
in which we are fo deeply concerned, 
that a perfon who could remain indiffe^ 
rent about it, muft be loft to all feeling.. 
All our adtions and our thoughts ftiould 
take fo different a bias, according to our 
heliefordifbelief of another life,after this, 
of rewards and punifhntents, that it is 
impollible to advance one ftep with fenfe 
and judgment without regulating our- 
felves by a view to this great point, 
which ought to be our principal object 
and laft end. Wherefore our moft effen- 
tial intereft and fir ft duty, is to endea^ 
vour to acquire a clear knowledge of 
this important objedl, on which our 
whole condudl through life depends. 
And for this reafon with refpedt to fuch 
as are not yet perfuaded, I make a wide 
diftindlion between thofe, who earneftly 
feek for inftrudion, and thofe, who live 
without any concern, or even without 
beftowing a thought on a matter of fuch 
moment. 


I cannot 


257 


I cannot but feel compaffion for thofe, 
who are fmcerely grieved to fee thein- 
felves in this dreadful doubt, who confi- 
der it the greatefl; of misfortunes, and 
who fparing no pains to rid themfelves 
of it, make it their principal and mofl: 
ferious ftudy to inveftigate the truth. 
But for thofe fenfelefs men, who pafs 
their lives without ever thinking of 
this lad and important end of life, and 
who merely, becaufe they do not find in 
themfelves fufficient light to perfuade 
them, neglect feeking for it elfewhere 
and entering into a ferious examination, 
whether this opinion of the immortality 
of the foul be one of thofe, which people 
are apt to embrace through credulous 
fimplicity, or of thofe which, though oh- 
fcure in themfelves, have neverthelefs a 
mod folid foundation, I confider thefe 
men in a very different light. Such cri¬ 
minal negle6l in an affair, in which they 
are fo effentially intereded, on which an 
eternity depends and in which their all 
is at dake, excites rather my indignation 
than pity, it really adonilhes and terri¬ 
fies 


258 

fies me, it apprears to me as fomething j 
monftrous. I do not exprefs myfelf thus, j 
from a pious zeal of fpiritual devotion j f 
I maintain even, that felf-love, mere hu- | 
man interefl and the moft feeble light of | 
Reafon are fufficient to infpire thefe i 
fentiments. ^ 

We need not a very fublime and pe- ; 
netrating genius to difcover, that there i 
is no real and folid fatisfa<5lion this fide 
of the grave, that all our pleafures are 
but vanity, that our^miferies are endlefs^ 
that, in fine, death, which threatens us 
at, each inflant, will place us in a few 
years, perhaps in a few days, in an eter¬ 
nal flate of happinefs, of mifery, or of 
'annihilation. Between us and Heaven, 
or Hell, or Annihilation there is then, 
nothing but life, which is the moft frail 
and precarious thing in the world ; and 
as Heaven cannot certainly be the lot of 
thofe, who doubt of the immortality of 
the foul, they, of courfe, have nothing 
to exped but hell or annihilation. 


There. 


There is nothing more real, nor, at 
the fame time, more terrible than this t 
Let us afFe^l, as much as we pleafe, to 
ad the bravado, here is the end that 
awaits the mod brilliant life. In vain 
does the unbeliever diftrad his thoughts 
from the confideration of eternity, as if 
he could annihilate it by not thinking 
of it, it dill fubfids in fpite of him, and 
death, which in a fliort time is to open 
this aweful feene, will reduce him to the 
dire neceflity of being either eternally 
annihilated or eternally miferable. 

Behold here is a doubt of a mod fe- 
rious and alarming confequence, and 
furely, the entertaining alone of fuch a 
doubt is a very great misfortune ; but 
fliould a perfon happen to be fo unfortu¬ 
nate, it is at lead his indifpenfable duty to 
endeavour by every means to remove it; 
therefore he who doubts and remains in¬ 
different in that date, is not only mod 
unfortunate, but alfo guilty of the great- 
ed injiidice. But fliould he moreover, 
remain quiet and contented in this un- 


dGo 


happy ftate^ Hiould he make open profef- ,, 
fion and boaft of it, fhould he even, 
make it the fubje^l of his joy and his va¬ 
nity ; I cannot find terms to defcribe fo 
infenfible and extravagant a being. 
Whence-can fuch fentiments proceed ? 
what fubjed of joy can it be, to hear 
only of mifery without refource ? What 
fubjed of vanity, to find onefelf plung- I 
ed into impenetrable obfcurity ? what P, 
confolation, never to exped comfort ? 

This fatal repofe in fuch a deplorable 
ignorance is a thing fo inonflrous, that 
we mull endeavour to expofe the extra¬ 
vagance and flupidity of it to thofe, who 
are fo unfortunate as to fpend their lives 
in this carelefs manner, by reprefenting 
to them what paffes in their own interior, j 
in order to confound them by making 
them fenfible of their own weaknefs and 
folly. Behold how tliefe men reafon, 
when they determine to live in a total 
ignorance of what they are, and of what 
is to become of them hereafter without 


ever 







261 


ever giving themfelvcs any trouble to 
j'emove their doubts. 

I know not, who has placed me in this 
world, nor what this world is, nor what 
I arn myfelf. I am utterly ignorant of 
all things. T know not the nature of my 
body, of my fenfes, nor of my foul ; and 
even this portion of me that thinks what 
I utter, and that reile^ls on every thing 
and on itfelf, is equally ignorant of its 
own nature, as of the reft. I behold 
thefe frightful fpaces of the univerfe in 
which I am inclofed ; I find myfelf con¬ 
fined to a corner of this vaft extent, and 
know not w^hy I am placed on this fpot, 
rather than another, nor why this fhort 
fpan of life, which has been allotted me, 
has been afligned rather to this point 
than any other of eternity : 1 fee myfelf 
fwallowed up in thofe infinite fpaces, 
that funound me on all Tides, like an 
atom, or a fliadow, that lafls but a mo¬ 
ment and never returns. All that I 
know is, that I muft fliortly die ; but 

what 




1^2 

what this death is, which I cannot avoid, 
is that which I am moft ignorant of. 

As I know not whence I came, neither 
do I know whither I am to go ; I only 
know, that on going out of this world, I 
fall, for ever, either into annihilation, or j 
into the hands of an incenfed God, but 
know not which of thefe two conditions 
is to be my doom for eternity. 

Such is my (late of wretchednefs, 
weaknefs and obfcurity : and from all 
this I conclude, that I ought, then, to i 
pafs all the days of my life, without con- ^ 
fidering what is to become of me here- j 
after, and that I have only to indulge my ; 
inclinations without refletlion or uneafi- 
nefs, doing every thing that mufl plunge ! 
me into eternal mifery, in cafe what they | 
fay of it, be true. 1 might, perhaps, find j 
out fome means of eclaircifing my 
doubts, but do not wifn to take that 
trouble, and treating with contempt 
thofe, who give themfelves any concern 
about it, I w ill go on without fbrecaft or 

dread. 





263 

dread, to try the iflue of fo eventful a 
matter, and quietly face death, in this fa¬ 
tal uncertainty of the eternity of my fu¬ 
ture ftate. 

It is indeed glorious to Religion to 
have fuch fenfelefs men for her enemies, 
and their oppofition, far from being 
dangerous, ferves, on the contrary, to 
confirm the principal truths which flie 
teaches ; for the chief objed of the Ca¬ 
tholic Faith is to eftablifh thefe two 
points, to wit, the corruption of our na¬ 
ture, and our redemption through Jefus 
Chrift. Now if the Infidel does not 
ferve to prove the truth of the redemp¬ 
tion by the purity of his morals and the 
fandity of his life, he ferves at leaft, to 
' fhew in a very ftriking.manner the cor¬ 
ruption of human nature by fuch unna¬ 
tural fentiments. 

There is nothing fo important to man 
as his prefent and future date ; there is 
nothing he ought to dread fo much as 
eternity. That men fhould be found, 

then. 


2^4 


then, fo indifFerent to the lofs of their 
being, and to the danger of being eter¬ 
nally miferable, is wholly repugnant to 
nature. They ad in a very different 
manner with refped to all other matters : 
they apprehend, they forefee, they fenfi- 
bly feel the mod trifling incidents, and 
this very man who paffes whole nights 
and days in rage and defpair for the lofs 
of a place, or for feme imaginary offence 
or a mere point of honour, knows that 
he mud forfeit all at death, and notwith- 
danding he gives himfelf no concern, 
trouble or uneafinefs. This drange in- 
fenfibility with refped to matteTs of the 
mod ferious and dreadful confequence in 
a heart that is fo fenfible to things the 
mod trivial, is really mondrous ; it is a 
kh)d of enchantment wholly inconipre- 
henfible, a fupernatural lethargy. 

It is contrary to nature to fiippofe, 
that a man confined in a dungeon, who 
knows not whether his fentence is palled, 
and has but one hour to procure this 
information, and that hour fuificient to 

' have 


2^5 

have his fentence reverfed, ki cafe it were 
pafled, fliould fpend that very hour in 
gaming or diverting himfelf, inftead of 
enquiring about his fentence. Such is 
the condition of the Infidel, only with 
this difference, that the evils, with which 
he is threatened, are of infinitely greater 
confequence than the mere lofs of life, oj: 
the momentary punifhment that this pri- 
foner might apprehend. Yet he runs 
on headlong and plunges himfelf into 
the precipice, putting as it were a ban¬ 
dage over his eyes, to prevent him from 
feeing the danger, and laughs at thofe 
who warn him againfl it. 

Thus the truth of the Chriftian Reli¬ 
gion is proved, not only by the zeal and 
attention of thofe, who feek God, but 
alfo by ihe blindnefs of thofe, who never 
think of him, and who pafs their whole 
life in this fatal negledl of their eternal 
welfare. There muft indeed be a ftrange 
/tevolution in the nature of man, to live 
in fuch a ftate, and ftill more, to make a 
boaft of it. For though he were abfo- 
N lutely 


266 


lutely, certain, that he had nothing to 
dreadafter death but Annihilation, would 
not even that be rather a fubjed of grief 
^nd defpair than of vain boafting ? but 
having no degree of certainty, muft it 
not be the moft inconceivable folly to 
glory in this doubt ? and yet, fo deprav¬ 
ed is the human heart as to be capable 
even of rejoicing at this^ This brutal 
kind of repofe between the apprehenfion 
of Hell and Annihilation feems to have 
fuch charms, that not only thofe who 
are fo unfortunate as actually to doubt 
of a future (late, but even, many who 
entertain no fuch doubt, take a pride in 
affedting it. For^ experience fhews, that 
by much the greater part are of this lat¬ 
ter defcription, that they are perfons who 
aifume a counterfeit charadlerj and who 
are not really fuch as they wifh to ap¬ 
pear ; they have heard that the fafhiona- 
ble manners of the world confift in thus 
adling the libertine or free-thinker ; this 
is what they call—fiiaking oif the yoke ; 
and the principal motive which induces 
the moft of them to give into fuch extra¬ 
vagance 


26y 

vagance is, merely, the defire of imitatv 
ing others. 

A very moderate (hare of common 
fenfe would be fufficient to convince 
them how grofsly they deceive them- 
felves, in feeking thus to gain efteem. 
This is not the way to acquire it, I fay 
even among thofe people of the world, 
who form a right judgment of things, and 
are fenfible, that the only means of fuc- 
ceeding in this life is, at lead, to appear 
virtuous, faithful, wife and capable of 
rendering ufeful fervices to one’s friends j 
for men naturally love only what can be 
ferviceable and ufeful to them : Now 
what advantage can it be to us, to hear a 
perfon fay, that he has fhaken off tfie 
yoke, that he does not believe there is a 
God who watches over our adlions, that 
he confiders hiinfelf as foie mafler of his 
own condud and accountable to himfelf, 
alone ? does he think, thereby, to engage ' 
us henceforth, to place much confidence 
in him, or to expect from him confola- 
tion, adduce and fuceour in our diftrefs ? 

does 


268 


does he think to afford us great joy in 
telling us, he doubts whether his foul be 
any thing more than a little wind or 
fmoke, and telling it, even, with an air 
of confidence and felf-complacency ? are 
thefe, then, tidings to be announced as a 
fubjedt of rejoicing ? or rather, fliould 
they not be mentioned, on the contrary, 
with the greatefl forrow and regret ? did 
they but ferioully reflect, they would find 
that their condu£l, far from being ap¬ 
proved of, is fo univerfafly difliked, fo 
repugnant to reafon, fo oppofite to pro¬ 
priety and decorum and fo far from gain¬ 
ing them the admiration and applaufo 
they feek to obtain, that nothing, on the 
contrary, is more likely to draw on them 
the contempt and averfion of mankind, 
and to prove their want of fenfe and 
judgment. In fad, if you call them to 
an account and afk them to give their 
Teafons for doubting of Religion, their 
objedions are fo weak and futile, that 
they would rather perfuade you of the 
contrary. This is what a perfon, very 
juftly, replied to them one day—if you 

continue 


269 

continue to argue in this manner, faid 
he, you will really convert me. And he 
certainly faid right j for who would not 
be (hocked at the idea of adopting the 
fentiraents of men of fuch defpicable and 
mean abilities ? Wherefore thofe, who 
only affect fuch fentiments, are truely 
unfortunate, in forcing their natural 
difpofition, in order to become the mofl 
extravagant and impertinent of Men. 

If they are fincerely forry from their 
hearts, for not being more enlightened, 
let them candidly acknowledge it ; fuch 
a declaration is not fhameful j the only 
thing we fhould be afhamed of, is the 
want of Shame. Nothingdifcovers more 
clearly a ftrange weaknefs of mind than 
not to know, how great a misfortune it 
is for a man, to be without God j there 
can be no greater proof of an extreme 
bafenefs and perverfion of heart than not 
to wifn the truth of the eternal promifes } 
there is nothing more cowardly than to 
brave the Almighty. Let them, then, 
leave fuch impiety to thofe, who are fo 
N 3 bafe 


270 


bafe and perverfe as to be really capable 
of it y let them, at leaft, be honeft men, 
if they cannot as yet be Chriflians ; let 
them acknowledge, in fine, that there 
are but two defcriptions of perfons, who 
c«n be called reafonable, to wit, thofe 
who ferve God with their whole hearts, 
becaufe they know him ; or thofe who 
feek him with their whole hearts, be¬ 
caufe they have not yet the happinefs to 
know him. 

For fuch then, as earneftly feek God, 
and acknowledging their mifery, fm- 
cerely defire to be freed from it, we con- 
fider it our duty to labour in affifting 
them to difcover that light which, as yet, 
is hidden from them. But for thofe who 
live without knowing God, or feeking 
to know him, they feein to judge them- 
felves fo little deferving their own care 
and attention, that they are, furely, un¬ 
worthy the care and attention of others, 
and one muft be poflelTeJ of all the Cha¬ 
rity of that Religion, which they defpife, 

not 


271 

not to hold them in fuch contempt as to 
abandon them to their extravagant fol¬ 
ly. However, as this Religion obliges 
us, as long as God is pleafed to fpare 
them in this life, to confider them as ca¬ 
pable of the grace of God, which can 
enlighten them, and to believe, that 
4:hey may, in a fhort time, be more firm¬ 
ly eflabliihed in the faith than ourfelves, 
and that we, on the contrary, may fall 
into that deplorable ftate of blindnefs in 
which they now are ; we fhould there¬ 
fore do for them, what we fhould wifh 
to have done for ourfelves, were we in 
their fituation ; we fhould earneftly en¬ 
treat them to take pity on themfelves 
and to advance fome fleps, at leaft, to 
try if they can difcover a ray of the Di¬ 
vine Light. Let them devote to the 
reading of this book a few of thofe 
hours, which they wafle in trifling 
amufements ; if they apply themfelves 
to the perufal of it with a true and fin- 
cere defire of knowing the truth, I truft, 
the fatisfa<^ion they will feel in reading 

it. 


272 


it, will amply compenfate their trouble, 
and that they will be induced thereby 
to acknowledge the evidence of our Di¬ 
vine Religion and the ineftimable advan¬ 
tages it procures us. 




























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